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Schlocky Horror Picture Show
ackblom12:
Phenomena (1985):
Dario Argento, the Italian director, is one of my absolutely favorite directors of all time. He has a real knack for what I consider to be "arthouse horror". Suspiria, Temembre, Inferno, Phenomena, Demons etc etc. All of it is great for various reason. One of the things that sets Argento out of the realm of other horror directors of his day was the fact that he didn't have a single male lead in his films that I can think of. He had a fascination with female culture and exploring the world through a female lead's eyes that was very progressive for the time. This isn't to say he shyed away from a lot of the schlocky elements of other horror films, but instead he integrated schlock into his films almost effortlessly, while still keeping the intellectual and philosophical edge that his movies are known for. Loaded with symbolism and very intense and saturated colors, as well as soundtracks usually supplied by Goblin, he loved to have scenes filled with colors and sound that were almost too intense, making every detail a part of the horror and suspense he was trying to convey.
If there is anyone who could be said to make High Art schlock, it would be Dario Argento.
Now, for Phenomena. This is a wonderful film based around a hard headed American schoolgirl who is sent to a private school in Switzerland where some local murders have been making their rounds on girls around her age. It's discovered that she has a ESP like capability to communicate with and control insects and arachnids of seemingly all sorts. She eventually realizes she can use this power to find the killer and events lead up to the final confrontation. I strongly suspect this movie was a big inspiration for first couple of Friday the 13th films, due to the family dynamic of the killers.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tca61jc0xHI
ackblom12:
Rawhead Rex (1986):
I'm not real sure if I can describe this movie overly well, but suffice to say, it's Clive Barker's worst movie by a long shot. From what I gather, it's not his fault really. Apparently they butchered the hell out of it, but dear god it's bad. Rawhead Rex is a demon who is summoned back to our world via something or another and comes back in the guise of a terrible rubber suit. It's a terrible movie that is just strangely fun to watch once. It's not good and the 90 minutes it last feels a lot more like 3 hours. It does include one great scene:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Sn6O-Pb00
That's right, Rawhead Rex baptises a priest with what sounds like scalding hot demon piss.
Edit: Keep in mind that I genuinely enjoyed all but one or two other films I've posted here, and I still think this is a horrible and not entertaining movie. This says a lot about the quality of entertainment Rawhead Rex provides.
ackblom12:
Evolver (1995):
Evolver was basically made for teenagers who got excited about the robot toy craze in the 90's. Evolver is a robot buddy that is, essentially, a Nerf bot that uses plastic rounds for little war games. Once you defeat it on a difficulty level, it evolves to have new capabilities. Apparently, Evolver really hates losing and starts modifying itself to become more difficult to beat, including replacing it's plastic rounds with steel ball bearings and increasing the power at which they are propelled. Of course they discover that this toy is actually a secret government military experiment. Gotta love the 90's.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb09abgOno8
ackblom12:
Xtro (1983):
Xtro is a British alien horror film that somehow manages to be silly and kind of horrifying at the same time. A young boy witnesses his father get taken by a UFO and it then fast forwards to 3 years later. His mother has a new man and the kid is having dreams. Then a monster appears and starts killing people and the child starts developing telekinetic powers! hooray! It's a good bit of ridiculous fun and it has one of the more memorable body horror scenes I've ever witnessed here:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJzozj4U_I
It has two sequels which I haven't watched yet, but plan to do soon and post them here. You can watch the entire film here.
ackblom12:
Xtro II: The Second Encounter (1991):
Oh god why did I decide to watch this movie. I could have been doing or watching anything else, something like stabbing myself in the eyes with kitchen shears.
So, Xtro II isn't very good. It's incredibly bad actually, about on par with your average "made for SyFy" movie. It doesn't really have anything to do with the first film, but that can be forgiven with this kind of genre. Part of what makes it so horrible is that it's essentially "Aliens", but as made and acted by the least charismatic and creative individuals possible. A team of researchers have successfully made a device that can send humans through a portal to another dimension. They do so, communication drops and only one of them makes it back. This person soon has a alien baby burst forth from her chest and things die yadda yadda yadda. No one is likeable, the humor is terrible, the action is bad but not bad enough to be laughable, the logic in this movie somehow manages to be even worse than normal schlock and more importantly, it's just not fun to watch at all. Except for one line.
"We got enough C4 planted to take down the Twin Towers!"
I laughed at that. I felt bad afterwards.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yF_bFaLA5U
The entire film can be seen here.
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