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 āa fewā 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. Didnāt like this at allā¦)
- 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 movieānot really a horror film. Didnāt 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 ā the Netflix series by Mike Flanagan. This was my second time to watch thisāprompted by picking up a cheap copy of the soundtrack on vinyl (really nice triple album set!). Iām 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 donāt 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 itās 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 itās 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 girlsāstunning sets and costumes.
Honorable raspberries go to:
Terrifier 2āI 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 thatā¦ Overlong and dull. Itās 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 wasnāt 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 Iāve ever seen.
As a personal aside: last Saturday marked my 100th day of sobrietyāwoo-hoo! A small milestone for me. Largely achieved through the power of obsessive horror movie viewing! 
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Thatās a mighty fine list you got there. Iāve seen more than half. I recently watched Midnight Mass for the 2nd time bc it is that good. Iāve owned Stir of Echoes since it came out but I havenāt watched it in a while. Definitely a classic to me. And for the Human Centipedes, I liked the first one but I wish Iād never seen the 2nd 
Scared to watch the 3rd!
Iām laid off until February so Iāve 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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Thanksāthatās much appreciated!
Iād 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 āghost stories for Christmas,ā and I was able to pick up an ex-rental DVD for the equivalent of about USD $2.00. Iām really looking forward to going to back to it sometime.
I thought the first one was passableālargely because the central concept itself is kind of compellingly grotesque. But the second oneā¦ 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 Lynchās 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 didnāt make me feel inclined to watch it.
(Actually, I probably shouldnāt use the term āanal-retentiveā when talking about the Human Centipede moviesā¦ )
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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 (sheās a goddess). I just canāt get enough of this show. I loved it.
Actually, Murder Houseā¦ 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. Didnāt even realize she was in sobriety. Even better.
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Well thatās interestingāI didnāt 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. āMan takes a drink, drink takes a drinkā¦ and then the drink takes the man. Aināt it so, dad.ā
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 hadnāt told him I was sober, but it felt like time to do it. I got to thank him. āI never told you this, but I sobered up while we were shooting DOCTOR SLEEP, and I donāt 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.ā
He wrote back his congratulations, and then mentioned āas it happens, Iām off to celebrate 30 years myself. It only gets better and better.ā
Iāve seen Midnight Mass referred to as āthe best Stephen King adaptation that Steven King didnāt actually write,ā 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, Salemās Lot)āa small tribute and Acknowledgement.
I wasnāt 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 Kubrickās film of The Shining moreāwhich is pretty miraculous considering he has notoriously hated it for decades!
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Here are some Iāve watched since my last list.
āThe Swerve - final thoughts - it definitely conveyed the feeling of horrific despair. Difficult to watch at times.
āThe 4th Floor (1999) - kept you guessing what was actually happening.
āStalking Laura (1993) - obviously I had to 
Corny, but it picked up at the end. True story.
āX (2022) - okay, but too dark to see what was going on half the time.
āPontypool (2009) - I always walked past this when it first came out but it was pretty good. Interesting idea.
āEli Roth Presents the Stranger (2015) - vampires. Love Eli Roth 
āWould you rather (2012) - pretty demented with a twist you may see coming.
āChained (2012) - a hidden gem Iād never heard of. Iāve liked Vincent DāOnofrio since The Cell. He didnāt disappoint.
āBlack Box (2020) - another one I never heard of with a bit of creepiness.
āThe Disappointments Room (2016) - I couldnāt take Kate Beckinsale seriously in a scared, haunted role after all her badass leading lady roles. It was boring.
āHouse (1985) - this one was funny.
āIntruders (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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Iāve never seen any of American Horror Story, but I am curious about it. I see that it is now into its 12th seasonāthat would be a pretty daunting amount of catch-upā¦ 
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Thereās 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. Itās a pain that we donāt 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 timeā¦!
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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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I enjoyed the Autopsy of Jane Doe! Iām a big fan of the Saw films, but I also like Hush, Silent Hill, the VHS films and House at the End of the Street. Iām a big horror fan - Iāve got Billy the Puppet from the Saw films tattooed on my arm too.
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I love Mike Flanagan and all of his stuff! One of my all-time favourite writers/directors!
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Oh and Tusk 
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Thatās awesome. Didnāt know his name was Billy. But youāre a dedicated fan, Iāll give you that. 
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