31 Nights of Halloween

[Lord Il]

So, let's just get this out of the way right now:

Spoiler

No, I still don't know what the fuck I'm looking at whenever I watch this scene, but it still gets me every time.

[close]

I know that Kubrick changed certain things in his movie adaption of The Shining, but did he ever give a reason at all for that seemingly random scene? Was it originally in King's book?
I always figured it was some messed up furry fetish thingy going on that Kubrick just added in for shits and grins when the story got really tense. Perhaps that's all it was? It didn't come off as being a metaphor for anything.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That's the great mystery of that scene. I have never been able to understand of its in there simply jut to get a "WTF?" reaction out of the audience, or if it genuinely has any deeper meaning to it. I still don't know what the hell it is to this day, and nobody's been able to explain it to me. I haven't read the book, but somehow I count that it's in there, seeing as how the whole movie was largely inaccurate to the novel in the first place, from what I've heard.

[talonmalon333]

I was at work all day so I missed a lot here. But of course I'm a fan of a smart horror movie with one of the definitive performances by one of my all time favorite actors.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm just going to put this out there:

Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker > Jack Nicholson's performance as The Joker

Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance >>>> Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker

[talonmalon333]

I'm just going to put this out there:

Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker > Jack Nicholson's performance as The Joker

Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance >>>> Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker

I agree with you, and I wouldn't even say this movie is my absolute favorite Nicholson performance.

[Foggle]

I haven't seen The Shining in years, but it's a masterpiece and an all time favorite, for sure.

So, let's just get this out of the way right now:

Spoiler

[close]

That. Fucking. Scene.

I'm just going to put this out there:

Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker > Jack Nicholson's performance as The Joker

Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance >>>> Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker

Yes!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Also, don't get me wrong, I love Heath Ledger's Joker. I even love Jack Nicholson's Joker, for that matter. That post was just to highlight how amazing I found his performance in The Shining, rather than trying to paint either Joker performance in an inferior light, because those are still awesome.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

NIGHT 5:



Review (Spoiler-Heavy): http://cinemassacre.com/2007/10/24/evil-dead/

Tonight we indulge in one of the most notoriously awesome gore-fests in all of cinema with the most unique trilogy ever. The first film is a horror movie, the second a horror comedy, and the third just a flat-out comedy. Before Sam Raimi went on to direct the big-budget original Spider-Man trilogy, he was one of the masterminds behind one of the most iconic characters in all of horror, the bad-ass incarnate Ash. The Evil Dead remake apparently brings things back to its horror roots, but as that's the only film in the franchise that I haven't seen yet, I'll be watching that tonight instead so that I can comment on it. As for the original trilogy, though, you'll never find another movie like then.

Anyways, like usual, please discuss any of these films. I'll give you guys my more detailed thoughts on each individual entry a little bit later, although I will say that I basically like each one more than the last, and I do enjoy all of them, overall.

[talonmalon333]

The Evil Dead is just an excellent indie horror film. The story is creative, the effects are awesome, and it does have its scares. And then it has great camerawork.

Evil Dead II, as I said before, defines the whole trilogy. It has the horror elements of the original, and the comedy that Army of Darkness has. It's a lot of fun.

Army of Darkness is comedic gold, and I love how Ash has completely gone from a quiet guy to a complete one-line spewing jerk. I love all three, but if I absolutely had to pick a favorite, it would probably be this one.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The Evil Dead- While not exactly scary, per se (and really, nothing in movies scares me these days), it still had an effectively creepy atmosphere thanks to masterful camerawork and incredibly crude yet well done practical effects that were as grotesque as they were over the top and funny. The movie also has some effective scares, to its credit, and the grainy quality of the film actually helps it feel all the more creepy. That said, a lot of scares come off as unintentionally funny, and it's clear that the cast of this film didn't really have all that much acting experience, but the way they deliver their performances does help with the more unintentional comedic quality of the film.

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn- This one basically pretended that the first film didn't exist and started the story over from scratch, but that allowed it to set up a much more humorous tone, although it cleverly played things up straight from the get-go, and didn't reveal it's humorous nature until a little later on into the film. Once that happens, though, then the whole movie goes completely insane without any sort of rules to abide by which works to its strength for those who enjoy wacky slapstick humor and tons of cheesy dialogue and one-liners. It's also in this film that Ash becomes the bad-ass that we know and love.

Army of Darkness- This picks up right where ED2 left off, and essentially just goes for a pure comedic tone, and it really works well. It still pays homage to its horror roots in certain scenes, but the relatively short 80-minute run time is wisely spent on cramming in as many hilarious gags as possible, culminating in an epic battle with stop-motion deadites for the climax. This is easily my favorite film of the trilogy.

I'm having some trouble finding the remake, so I may not be able to watch it tonight after all, but I'll still post my thoughts on it whenever I do finally see it. From what I've heard from the vernal ED fan-base, it's actually a pretty decent remake of the first film, while paying tribute to the other 2 movies in the trilogy.

[talonmalon333]

I've heard that the recent movie is not just a remake, but that it actually "sort of" follows the previous movies.

[talonmalon333]

There got to be more Evil Dead fans around here.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Nope, I guess we're the only 2 on the entire board.

[Avaitor]

Sorry, I just don't have much to say these days, nor have I been able to watch the movies we're using here again lately.

But I saw the Evil Dead films in a weird order. The first one I saw was II, which I recorded from a late night airing on TCM (I know, they actually aired Evil Dead II at one point! You gotta love TCM Underground). Honestly, I was a little disappointed with it. I thought that the film was well made, but I didn't find it all that funny. But it's a film that definitely stuck with me since that airing, to the point that I started to realize just how damn entertaining certain little things in it where. I ended up watching it again later, and I fell in love for sure! Easily among the greatest horror comedies of all time.

Next, I rented Army of Darkness from my local Blockbuster before it closed down (this was actually a couple of years before their recent demise, btw). As a more concrete comedy, the film is exceptional, although I was somewhat saddened that the terror that kept Evil Dead II so fresh was mostly MIA. That said, I'm very glad that it exists.

I wasn't sure if I was ever going to watch the first, though. I knew that it had plenty of dedicated fans, but I had heard before that it wasn't as strong as the more comedic films. But I was bored one Halloween night waiting for trick or treaters, and remembered that it was on Netflix. Why not? While it's true, I prefer the funnier flicks, this is top-notch budget horror, and it continues to blow me away that Sam Raimi could pull off some of these crazy shots as such a novice.

One of these days, I'll give the trilogy a rewatch in order, since I want to directly see the progression between them. But they're fantastic regardless, as the trilogy is clearly a celebration of the macabre, done in different ways.

I haven't seen the remake(ish?) yet, but I do want to. I was initially resent, since why would we need a reboot of the franchise? Especially one penned by Diablo Cody (and this isn't just Juno ambivalence talking- I actually saw Jennifer's Body, and it is ass). But then I heard the idea behind it, and how Cody's influence was barely present, which raised my interest. At some point, I'll get to it for sure.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I remember that I was just going through my brother's DVD collection a few years back and asked you guys if The Evil Dead was worth watching, as I found it among his many horror movies. I popped it in, not knowing what to expect, and have been a fan ever since. Yes, it's not a super high quality product along the lines of Poltergeist or something, but it is still a really entertaining horror film if you watch it with the right mindset. Like I said, while not actually all that scary on the whole, it did at least nail a scary atmosphere and provided some really effective scares in the middle.

I didn't get to the sequels until a couple years after that, but yes, those were certainly excellent follow-ups to a film that never really needed one; yet I'm glad that they were made, all the same.