It’s funny you mentioned Hard Candy. I originally watched it when it was released, around the same time as High Tension, and I just put it on my watch list a couple days ago! From what I remember, it’s pretty effed up.
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Hope everyone is having a suitably horrific Christmas—I mean that in a good way, of course!
This weekend I watched:
Don’t Listen (AKA Voces)—a Spanish film from 2020. Anyone seen this? It’s essentially a haunted house story. It really had me for about the first hour—it was going great. Good spooky atmosphere, some pretty nasty, unexpected twists, but then, like so many modern horror films, it took a real dive in the last 45 minutes or so. I guess I could maybe recommend it for people who like the modern Blumhouse type films—Quija, Boogeyman, etc., or something like Pope’s Exorcist. I Think it was easily as good as any of those. I was really disappointed by the last half though.
The Devil’s Men (AKA Land of the Minotaur)—very weird Greek production from 1976 starring Donald Pleasance and Peter Cushing. Really dumb story about a Minotaur-worshiping cult. Kind of fun though. Cool 70s fashions and a soundtrack by Brian Eno.
Talk to Me (2022)—this just came out in the theaters here, so I went to see it. I thought it was a really cool old-school horror film. I liked how they kept it to a lean 95 minutes too. Apparently there are prequels and sequels in the works. Hope they don’t mess it up…! 
Black Christmas—classic proto-slasher from 1974. This was pretty good. Nice feel for the period, and always good to see John Saxon.
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012). As expected, this was quite a drop in quality from 3, which was itself not as good as 1 & 2. I still enjoyed it though. There is something about these movies that gets under my skin. I guess I’m not alone in that though, since they are pretty popular. I think it might like the second one best so far.
And I even managed to hang out with my family some too. 
Pretty good weekend, all-in-all!
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Watched a really great film last night: Bone Tomahawk (2015)—anyone seen it?
The film, and its director S. Craig Zahler, were both totally unknown to me, but I happened to hear it mentioned on a horror podcast that I like and it sounded interesting, so I checked it out. Really glad I did. It’s a kind of “horror western.”
It has some pretty big-name actors in it, like Kurt Russel and Patrick Wilson (star of the Conjuring and Insidious movies), so I’m guessing it must be pretty well known—despite my own complete ignorance of it.
I thought it played out like Quentin Tarantino film crossed with an Italian cannibal film from the 70s or 80s (that I have, for some reason, been watching quite lot of recently ).
Anyway, I would definitely recommend it. (Some pretty gory moments though, so be warned!)
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I went to the cinema to see this, super original and good!
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I just had a ten day holiday over New Year and was able to squeeze “a few” horror movies in.
I watched:
- V/H/S
- V/H/S 2
- Starry Eyes (an odd US horror film from 2014. Really good John Carpenter-esque score)
- Human Centipede
- Human Centipede 2
- Fresh (2022)
- Thanksgiving (the recent Eli Roth slasher. Saw this in the theater and thoroughly enjoyed it)
- A Haunting in Venice
- Terrifier 2
- Stir of Echoes (1999)
- Vivarium (2019, maybe more sci-fi than horror)
- The Girl in Room 2A (an Italian giallo from 1974)
- The French Sex Murders (an Italian giallo from 1972)
- The Menu (2022, starring Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy. Didn’t like this at all…)
- Pieces (the classic slasher from 1982)
- Haunter (a Canadian film from 2013)
- Death Line (a weird British horror film from 1972 about cannibals lurking in the London tube lines, starring Donald Pleasence)
- Prey (the latest Predator movie—not really a horror film. Didn’t think much of this. Everyone else seems to love it though.)
- Paranormal Activity 5: The Marked Ones
- My Dear Killer (an Italian/Spanish giallo from 1972)
- Midnight Mass (the Netflix series)
- Grapes of Death (Jean Rollin film from 1978)
- The House That Screamed (a Spanish gothic from 1969)
Anyone seen any of those? Some good, some bad. I enjoyed most of them, but honorable mentions go to:
Midnight Mass – the Netflix series by Mike Flanagan. This was my second time to watch this—prompted by picking up a cheap copy of the soundtrack on vinyl (really nice triple album set!). I’m guessing most people posting on this thread will probably have seen it, but it deals pretty explicitly with alcoholism, as well as other a lot of other human issues. In my opinion it takes a real dive in the second half when the focus shifts to the horror elements of the plot (which I don’t think are very well conceived) and the discussions around issues like religion, loss, and death become less interesting and too heavy-handed.
However, the first three episodes or so are absolutely fantastic, and it’s still well worth checking out despite its flaws. The presentation of a believable community with richly-drawn characters is amazingly done. It is also beautifully shot and has a great score. I almost felt like I wanted to walk into my TV and live there (despite the awful problems everyone is having!). Shame it crashes and burns towards the end (in my humble opinion). I had the same experience recently with another film by Mike Flanagan called Ouija: Origin of Evil: great set-up and then a real dive towards the end.
Stir of Echoes from 1999 is a great intelligent ghost story starring Kevin Bacon. Like Midnight Mass it does an amazing job of depicting a specific community (in this case, a working-class neighborhood in Chicago) comprised of really believable characters. Unlike Midnight Mass, however, it also does an excellent job of weaving an engaging supernatural mystery story into that setting.
Apparently, Stir of Echoes pretty much disappeared without a trace because it was released very shortly after Sixth Sense and got sidelined by that film, as it treads broadly similar ground, but it’s easily as good in my opinion. Well worth checking out.
Fresh was a good, taught, gruesome thriller, and The House That Screamed was an excellent period gothic set in a boarding school for wayward girls–stunning sets and costumes.
Honorable raspberries go to:
Terrifier 2—I watched this with my wife because we both enjoyed the first one, but I was so disappointed with it. The gore set pieces are nasty and done well enough, but other than that… Overlong and dull. It’s two hours and twenty minutes long! So tedious! But everyone else seems to have liked it more than the first one, so what do I know?!
Human Centipede 1 & 2. I guess I wasn’t really expecting to like these, but I was curious. The second one might have knocked Martyrs off the No. 1 spot as the most gruelling film I’ve ever seen.
As a personal aside: last Saturday marked my 100th day of sobriety—woo-hoo! A small milestone for me. Largely achieved through the power of obsessive horror movie viewing! 
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That’s a mighty fine list you got there. I’ve seen more than half. I recently watched Midnight Mass for the 2nd time bc it is that good. I’ve owned Stir of Echoes since it came out but I haven’t watched it in a while. Definitely a classic to me. And for the Human Centipedes, I liked the first one but I wish I’d never seen the 2nd 
Scared to watch the 3rd!
I’m laid off until February so I’ve got quite the list going myself. Been meaning to post about them at some point, but instead, usually end up watching another Congrats on 100 days 
Keep up the horrifyingly great work!
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Thanks–that’s much appreciated!
I’d never even heard of it until it was recommended on a horror movie podcast I really like called Discover The Horror. It was one of their recommended “ghost stories for Christmas,” and I was able to pick up an ex-rental DVD for the equivalent of about USD $2.00. I’m really looking forward to going to back to it sometime.
I thought the first one was passable–largely because the central concept itself is kind of compellingly grotesque. But the second one… I know it has been said before by others, but I just felt like the director must hate his audience to put us through that! Weirdly, I kept on thinking about David Lynch’s Eraserhead, probably because it is also black-and-white, has a grinding industrial noise soundtrack, and is pretty uncomfortable to watch.
I watched the trailer for the third one and it looks like it is aiming for a more satirical approach. Even though I have a strong anal-retentive tendency towards being a completionist, it still didn’t make me feel inclined to watch it.
(Actually, I probably shouldn’t use the term “anal-retentive” when talking about the Human Centipede movies… )
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Midnight Mass IMO is a masterstroke of TV. There is just not another TV series that came close in years that deals in this genre. Not close. Kate Siegel is three years sober now also in real life (she’s a goddess). I just can’t get enough of this show. I loved it.
Actually, Murder House… American horror.
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Love Kate Siegel ever since haunting of Hill house
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Definitely my TV gal crush! 
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Me too. Didn’t even realize she was in sobriety. Even better.
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Well that’s interesting—I didn’t know that!
I knew that the director (and her husband) Mike Flanigan kicked his own drinking habit while he was on the set of Doctor Sleep.
He talks about it on his blog (Mike Flanagan | Hello and Howdy Mr. Mike Flanagan! I'm excited to...):
When I think of DOCTOR SLEEP, I think of Ewan sitting at the bar and looking at the glass in his hand. “Man takes a drink, drink takes a drink… and then the drink takes the man. Ain’t it so, dad.”
Ewan understood those words better than I did when I typed them into the script. I understand them much better now.
I reached out to King a year later, on my first sober birthday. I hadn’t told him I was sober, but it felt like time to do it. I got to thank him. “I never told you this, but I sobered up while we were shooting DOCTOR SLEEP, and I don’t think I would have done it without your words. Living in that story, and marinading in the concepts of recovery and redemption made it possible. I just want to thank you.”
He wrote back his congratulations, and then mentioned “as it happens, I’m off to celebrate 30 years myself. It only gets better and better.”
I’ve seen Midnight Mass referred to as “the best Stephen King adaptation that Steven King didn’t actually write,” or something to that effect. I think that seems like a fair comment.
When I was re-watching it this time I noticed that when Riley returns to the island after being released from prison and goes into his old bedroom in the family home, there is a whole bunch of Stephen King books on his bookshelf (including, appropriately, Salem’s Lot)—a small tribute and Acknowledgement.
I wasn’t too into the Doctor Sleep movie, but I think I really need to revisit it now. Especially since I just read that Stephen King said it made him able to appreciate Kubrick’s film of The Shining more—which is pretty miraculous considering he has notoriously hated it for decades!
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Here are some I’ve watched since my last list.
●The Swerve - final thoughts - it definitely conveyed the feeling of horrific despair. Difficult to watch at times.
●The 4th Floor (1999) - kept you guessing what was actually happening.
●Stalking Laura (1993) - obviously I had to 
Corny, but it picked up at the end. True story.
●X (2022) - okay, but too dark to see what was going on half the time.
●Pontypool (2009) - I always walked past this when it first came out but it was pretty good. Interesting idea.
●Eli Roth Presents the Stranger (2015) - vampires. Love Eli Roth 
●Would you rather (2012) - pretty demented with a twist you may see coming.
●Chained (2012) - a hidden gem I’d never heard of. I’ve liked Vincent D’Onofrio since The Cell. He didn’t disappoint.
●Black Box (2020) - another one I never heard of with a bit of creepiness.
●The Disappointments Room (2016) - I couldn’t take Kate Beckinsale seriously in a scared, haunted role after all her badass leading lady roles. It was boring.
●House (1985) - this one was funny.
●Intruders (2016) - More to it than meets the eye. I thought it was really good.
From this list I think Chained was my favorite, followed closely by Intruders. Now onto the next one!
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I’ve never seen any of American Horror Story, but I am curious about it. I see that it is now into its 12th season–that would be a pretty daunting amount of catch-up… 
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There’s no catching up to do. Each season is completely different. All good in their own way, mostly. Definitely worth the watch 
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The only ones among those that I have seen are X and House (which I saw around the time it came out while I was still in high school).
Will keep an eye out for your recommendations. It’s a pain that we don’t have all the cool streaming services here in Japan that you do in the US, UK, etc. 
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So much horror, so little time…!
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Yes Kate got sober also after Mike. She did a pretty candid podcast lately on her sobriety which was honest anda good listen. They are a horror power couple! 
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Will look at some of these thanks Laura for the list.
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