What monster movie are you currently watching?

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

He's still Siro in Mortal Kombat: Konquest to me. He was also in the best episode of the HBO dramedy Barry. Wasn't he in one of the John Wick movies too?

[Gojira 41mk11]

I watched every Sharknado movie today. Of all the ways I could've spent Christmas Eve, that's definitely one of them.

[edgaguirus]

I watched CFTBL Christmas eve. It's a favorite of mine and seeing a movie that takes place in a tropical setting helped me forget how cold it was last night.

[Mac Daddy MM]

I watched CFTBL Christmas eve. It's a favorite of mine and seeing a movie that takes place in a tropical setting helped me forget how cold it was last night.

Glad I'm not the only one who tries to do warm movies on exceptionally cold days. But with it being Christmas... Been doing Christmas horror movies for the past week and a half. Gremlins (and 2), Black Christmas, Christmas Horror Story... Plus, I recently got Jack Frost 1 and 2 on Blu-Ray. Been a long ass time since I saw those. Going to be doing Krampus tonight.

[Angilasman]

Just ended 2022 with Guillermo's Pinocchio, which had several cool stop motion creatures.

[edgaguirus]

I watched The Earth Dies Screaming. The first few minutes do a fine job of setting up the sudden and alarming apocalypse that our characters find themselves in, and the zombie elements make this alien invasion film more frightening. It's also interesting how two characters are used as foils for each other. Taggart is shown as a competent, though controlling, man, and ends up turning into a zombie that betrays them. Otis, the drunk, is warmed about keeping a clear head, but ignores the message and proves unreliable later. In the end, he redeems himself by saving the women and baby from the Taggart zombie. It's nice that the writing doesn't treat Otis as a one note stock character.

[JAGzilla]

Working on Grizzly right now, via the Severin Blu-ray. I'm about a third of the way in. It zips along quickly, and the initial kills were pretty solid. I love the waterfall kill, especially, for... reasons... and also just the cheap-but-effective simplicity of it. Figured I'd stop real quick and mention that gem of sci-fi science lesson when Scott first tells our other heroes what they're up against. Amazing. Every word of that explanation... was wrong.

EDIT: Done. Pretty good! Don's imitation of the Indianapolis story was unintentionally (?) hilarious. The third act was a bit sluggish at times, but ramped up when it needed to. I appreciated that an actual bear was used and that we saw so much of him; they don't waste time hiding the 'monster' for long. I also liked that they didn't pull punches with the kid that was attacked; he had his freaking leg ripped off, and we got to see it. The over-the-top violence was just a highlight throughout. The horse being decapitated was definitely memorable. And then the bear was killed off in suitably epic fashion. I'll give a shout-out to Robert O. Ragland's score, too. One of the bear's themes actually sounded a lot like Ifukube's Gojira score.

EDIT: Lots of special features on the Blu-ray, too, which is cool. I went ahead and watched the 2006 "Jaws With Claws" featurette, full of interesting background info. This is just a fascinating movie, being the first of its kind, and thrown together in a very seat-of-the-pants, just make it work kind of way. It turned out really well, considering.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Currently watching The Suckling for the first time. Started it last night and got half way before dozing off. Not because it's bad/boring, but because I was just that tired. Movie is a very trashy, low budget monster movie with some decent gore and originality. Was recomended to me by a friend and I'm honestly surprised I never saw nor heard of it before now.

[edgaguirus]

It was Svengoolie's showing of Kiss of the Vampire. It's not as good as other Hammer vampire films I've seen but has an ironic and frightening climax.

[Leviarex]

Monday night I watched the 'MST3K' version of 'The Killer Shrews'. In addition to having the usual cheap, B-Movie effects (who can't see that the non-closeup shrews are dressed up dogs?) it also suffers from not being very audible at times as pointed out by Joel and the bots. In the plus column though, the puppets used for the closeup shots have a great design.

[edgaguirus]

I also watched a film via MST3K. It was Beast of Yucca Flats, and this is the only way I would want to watch it. I like movies that some would call bad, but this is slowly paced and seems longer than its short run time. There are two sequences that grip me, but in between it drags. However, the quips of the Satellite of Love crew keeps things amusing.

[SpiderZilla]

I also watched a film via MST3K. It was Beast of Yucca Flats, and this is the only way I would want to watch it. I like movies that some would call bad, but this is slowly paced and seems longer than its short run time. There are two sequences that grip me, but in between it drags. However, the quips of the Satellite of Love crew keeps things amusing.

MST3K is a fantastic way to watch good movies, too! Their Gamera and Godzilla episodes are worth watching if you haven’t seen them already.

[edgaguirus]

I haven't seen the Godzilla ones, but I have seen some of their Gamera outings. They are good.

[The One and Only]

Had a weird dream about an old sci-fi mini-series that aired on NBC back in 1988. Looked it up on Youtube.com and found someone's VHS rip of SOMETHING IS OUT THERE . From Frank Lupo, who wrote several 80's mainstays such as THE A-TEAM, HUNTER, WISEGUY, and the cult classic, WEREWOLF. Starts out as a straight up police drama with two police officers working a mugging case when they come across a gruesome murder that occurs at impossible speed. It's discovered by one of the detectives from a mysterious woman that the suspect in the jogger's murder, and series of other murders carried out by their wannabe Springheeled Jack is actually a deadly alien called a Xenomorph. The woman herself is an alien as well, and was a medical officer on a prison ship where this last of its kind was kept imprisoned. It was able to escape killing the crew, and prisoners except for the medical officer. Who follows the creature to Earth to stop it before it reproduces ,and overwhelm the Earth. An excellent thriller, which thanks in part to its synth 80's score, good cast, and well written as well. Plus effects by John Dykstra, and the Xenomorph monster created by the one and only Rick Baker. Also some pretty gory effects , and a jump scare or two that gave nightmares to my fourteen year old self.

[JAGzilla]

Just got done with House of Terrors, the 1965 Toei haunted house movie, via the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray. I don't have much experience with classic Japanese horror yet, only like five or six movies, but most of them have been absolutely bonkers. This was no exception. Like, I enjoyed it, but what the hell. I'm not even going to pretend to understand.

[edgaguirus]

I saw Beginning of the End yesterday. It's paint by numbers, but Peter Graves gives a good performance here. The story sounds a bit silly on paper, but the cast plays it serious, which helps to elevate the movie. The special effects for the giant grasshoppers are a mixed bag though, like the scene where the grasshoppers are obviously crawling on a picture of a building. Overall, it's an enjoyable and charming film.

[SpiderZilla]

I saw Beginning of the End yesterday. It's paint by numbers, but Peter Graves gives a good performance here. The story sounds a bit silly on paper, but the cast plays it serious, which helps to elevate the movie. The special effects for the giant grasshoppers are a mixed bag though, like the scene where the grasshoppers are obviously crawling on a picture of a building. Overall, it's an enjoyable and charming film.

I prefer to watch the MST3K version of this movie. I appreciate that the cast plays it serious but the special effects absolutely cry out for professional riffing!

[edgaguirus]

I saw Beginning of the End yesterday. It's paint by numbers, but Peter Graves gives a good performance here. The story sounds a bit silly on paper, but the cast plays it serious, which helps to elevate the movie. The special effects for the giant grasshoppers are a mixed bag though, like the scene where the grasshoppers are obviously crawling on a picture of a building. Overall, it's an enjoyable and charming film.

I prefer to watch the MST3K version of this movie. I appreciate that the cast plays it serious but the special effects absolutely cry out for professional riffing!

Perhaps the effects would be better if Bert had gone to the University of Minnesota, like Peter Graves did.

[JAGzilla]

I'm working on Hideo Nakata's Dark Water right now. I'm liking it a lot. There's a ghost kid spilling water everywhere, yeah, but it's really about the horror that is everyday life, and it's doing a pretty darn good job with it.

EDIT: And done. Very good! Subtle and small scale, very grounded in sad reality, paced really well, very intense when it wants to be, freaking gross and awful without being in your face about it. It deals in implications to a large extent, conserving its visual horror for maximum impact. In short, my kind of ghost movie.

Spoiler:

I tend not to like sad endings, but it worked well here. Sometimes life just sucks and you can't climb out of it. Nobody wins. You just do the right thing and make the best of the options you're given. Man, this was one of the most brutally, gut-punchingly real movies I've ever seen. It's the kind of movie that makes you want to go be a better person so shit like this doesn't happen in real life.

[edgaguirus]

I watched the original Little Shop of Horrors. It's more comedy than horror, with the quirky characters, dialogue, and Audrey Jr. sounding very whiney at times. However, Corman creates a few chilling moments, especially seeing Seymour feed hands and feet to his blood thirsty plant.