What monster movie are you currently watching?

For the discussion of non-Toho monster media, tokusatsu franchises, and also for mixed discussion of Toho and non-Toho kaiju media.
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mikelcho
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2024 9:21 am Yeah, I'll get that one down the line, too. It got a 4K release last year, so I'll probably buy that disk. I want Shout Factory's Universal Horror Blu-ray sets, too, though they aren't part of the Classic Monster series.
You mean the series that so far has gone up to six volumes, right?

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I didn't know there were that many, but we're probably talking about the same thing, yes.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Found a decent subtitled copy of Ultra Q the Movie on YouTube. Not bad, I liked it. Wasn't a lot of action and the monster was used sparingly but I liked the characters and actually enjoyed the more procedural approach they took with the story. Kept my interest throughout even when the monster wasn't on-screen. Only real complaint was that the monster design was a bit underwhelming.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2024 5:05 pm I didn't know there were that many, but we're probably talking about the same thing, yes.
Yes, I looked them up on the Shout! website and right now, it's six volumes. I hope that you can get all of them and any more that might be released in the future.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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It watched a movie I'd never seen before. It was the original Invaders From Mars. I enjoyed it as much as the remake.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Last night I watched Blood: The Last Vampire (the original anime film, not the live action remake) and tonight I watched the newest Salem's Lot.

This was only my second time ever watching Blood, and I was surprised how impressive the visuals were almost a quarter of a century later - a lot of anime today doesn't look even remotely as cinematic as this. And it's well paced considering the short time frame it has to work in.

I heard a lot of poor reviews for the new Salem's Lot, but I honestly don't know why - it was quite well done, rather fun and spooky, and different enough from the old miniseries so as not to feel like a retread.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Abigail, on Blu-ray. Money well spent! It's a very competent genre movie, and definitely one of the best recent horror movies I've seen. No serious problems jumped out at me. It's good at being well-balanced. Funny and jokey, but never excessively. Gross and gory, but mostly kinda tasteful about it. Long, but mostly uses the runtime well. The acting was solid from everyone. It's twisty and turny and keeps you guessing. Abigail herself is a fun villain. The vampire superpowers actually look good in action and for the most part aren't comically overdone like Renfield or some other vampire stuff I've seen. Yeah, I had a great time with this one.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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The VVitch (2015). Very good. Definitely in the vein of The Lighthouse, all psychological torment and confusion and characters being torn apart by lurking evil of various kinds. Robert Eggers is a master at making these period piece movies believably immersive, particularly the dialogue, and the actors deliver it well. The setting is perfect. The atmosphere of cold dread is powerful. Definitely a great October watch.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch. It's not a slasher and there's no Michael Myers, but it's a solid horror movie in its own right. It's very John Carpenter even if he didn't direct, and of course his music absolutely makes it. The kills are graphic and memorable, and the Silver Shamrock commercials are iconic perfection. It puts together a fun and really out there combination of fears about technology and advertising with ancient magic... I don't know if that really works as well as it could, the magic and witchcraft angle felt unnecessary when the advanced technology in the movie could have done the killing on its own, but it makes for some wild imagery.

Our hero is interesting. He's crazy competent for a slasher protagonist, pulling off superhero stunts left and right, but his immoral lifestyle bogs him down at every turn and puts everyone he cares about in danger. And he's ultimately fighting the power and reach of big business. It creates an interesting sense of desperate helplessness. This average joe, even if he's practically Superman, is still just screwed, overwhelmed from all sides by temptation and larger forces.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I've ended up with more free time than in other recent Octobers, so I'm getting in quite a few horror movies this time. :thumbsup: On Wednesday I revisited Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, one I watched over and over as a kid. It's basically just an extended TV episode with lots of filler, but it has a good wacky assortment of elements going on. A treasure hunt in a haunted Southern plantation with a Civil War ghost, skeleton, headless horseman, scheming creepy butler, killer rednecks, and (always my favorite) an escaped circus gorilla. Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy team up with a trio of ghost-busting ghosts based on the Three Stooges.

And then today I watched Taste the Blood of Dracula. It's a basic Hammer Dracula sequel, but that's never an insult. Been there, done that, and came back a fifth time because it always delivers. The cast of characters is partly familiar but with its own new faces; our four human villains were a good change of pace, and their Satanic ritual scene was a highlight. The title doesn't lie: there is Dracula blood and it is tasted. His 'brides' get a very cool scene involving subversion of a basic vampire trope. Dracula himself was just kinda there and went out on a pretty lame note, but that's as much feature as bug at this point in the series.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2024 11:55 am I've ended up with more free time than in other recent Octobers, so I'm getting in quite a few horror movies this time. :thumbsup: On Wednesday I revisited Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, one I watched over and over as a kid. It's basically just an extended TV episode with lots of filler, but it has a good wacky assortment of elements going on. A treasure hunt in a haunted Southern plantation with a Civil War ghost, skeleton, headless horseman, scheming creepy butler, killer rednecks, and (always my favorite) an escaped circus gorilla. Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy team up with a trio of ghost-busting ghosts based on the Three Stooges.

And then today I watched Taste the Blood of Dracula. It's a basic Hammer Dracula sequel, but that's never an insult. Been there, done that, and came back a fifth time because it always delivers. The cast of characters is partly familiar but with its own new faces; our four human villains were a good change of pace, and their Satanic ritual scene was a highlight. The title doesn't lie: there is Dracula blood and it is tasted. His 'brides' get a very cool scene involving subversion of a basic vampire trope. Dracula himself was just kinda there and went out on a pretty lame note, but that's as much feature as bug at this point in the series.
Have you ever seen Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, the film that Taste the Blood of Dracula was the sequel to? If so, what did you think of, say, both of them as a miniseries within the main series? I, for one, liked that the first one led right into the second one.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I've seen all of Hammer's Dracula entries up to this point, yeah, and I have the whole series on Blu-ray. I don't see any particular reason to treat Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and Taste the Blood of Dracula as a series of their own. There is a direct connection between them, but they have different stories with different characters. And the Hammer horror movies (in my experience) are all fairly samey; nothing jumped out at me to set these two apart from the rest. Which, again, isn't necessarily a problem when they're all pretty good.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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JAGzilla wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2024 7:58 pm I've seen all of Hammer's Dracula entries up to this point, yeah, and I have the whole series on Blu-ray. I don't see any particular reason to treat Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and Taste the Blood of Dracula as a series of their own. There is a direct connection between them, but they have different stories with different characters. And the Hammer horror movies (in my experience) are all fairly samey; nothing jumped out at me to set these two apart from the rest. Which, again, isn't necessarily a problem when they're all pretty good.
I feel the same with their Frankenstein films. Though they all feature Peter Cushing's Baron Frankenstein, they are separate stories and feature various faces. I will say that Frankenstein Created Woman stands out for its focus on the soul rather than brain transplants and bodies, but they are all interesting and entertaining films.
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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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I saw one of my favorite Hammer movies last night. While they do a fine job with the classic figures of horror, The Gorgon is a creative take on the mythological beast. They add a werewolf element by linking it to the full moon, and it also lures some of its victims with singing like a siren. They also have it move about with a grace that almost seems ghostly. It's a haunting figure until the closeup at the end, which reveals rubber snakes set in the wig. An interesting tidbit about the gorgon character is that Barbara Shelly wanted to play the monster, and even suggested a wig with live snakes. Her idea wasn't followed, and a ballerina and actress was used for the monster. When Terence Fisher saw the closeup, he wished he'd gone with Barbara's idea.

I also feel that the gorgon in this film is one of the deadliest monsters Hammer created. While Dracula, Frankenstein, and their mummy must grab or bite you for the kill, this monster has to only make eye contact.
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Twice I've been followed by something that was not human, something that attempted to take my life. I believe that was the cat form of Irena.

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Re: What monster movie are you currently watching?

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The other day I did The Mummy's Hand and three Scooby Doo DTS movies (chosen at semi-random). The former is carried by a lovely second half with the Egypt setting once again working to create a sense of isolation, Kharis being sufficiently scary, and a likeable if lightly written major cast. The three Scooby movies were neat enough. Phantomasaur did some great stuff with Shaggy especially and Velma acting rather silly, Franken-Creepy had a lot of neat concepts with some iffy execution, and the Blue Falcon one had a kaiju-esque fight, some wild side characters, and Daphne being a toy collector.

My Halloween viewing:

Bride of Frankenstein - Finally watched it complete and wow, what a film. I've not much to say that's not been said already. A beautiful film that follows up the original perfectly. Henry and the monster are changed as characters but still suit the roles you want from them. The monster manages to stay menacing while also being more sympathetic and dimensional. Pretorious is a delightful antagonist. Lanchester does so much from so little. I would rewatch sooner than the original.
The Mummy's Tomb - Shockingly bland but good ideas at work nonetheless. I love how direct a sequel it is to the previous film although the lazy use of Marta does undermine following it up. Babe Hansen feels more dimensional in his second appearance but I think that's the performance. The Banning victims otherwise feel a bit too light. Kharis is wonderfully spooky but his master maybe hogs a little too much screentime for my taste.
The Wolf Man - A great film but not what I expected at all. The script was clearly leaning towards a more psychological horror and this shines through in a lot of the best scenes and in Chaney's performance, but considering they ultimately opted to make it a monster film, it does feel oddly restrained. I also hadn't known how much it deviated from werewolf lore, particularly the pentagram. I admit at times it made me want more "tell" though from the characters. The tragic elements are fantastic and I enjoyed that aspect of the film a lot. Good stuff.
The Mummy's Ghost - In progress.
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