31 Days of Halloween (2022)

[Caldwin]

I honestly had no idea what I was going to do for this thread this year. As a matter of fact, I was thinking of just letting it lie. But then I was reminded of two "how the hell have you not seen these yet" movies: Drag Me To Hell and Saw. Slim picking this year, I know, but that's probably a good thing. Slim funds as well.

Today will be

Drag me To Hell

Before I watch, let me just say that I do believe in hell and demon possession and such. Like, Exorcism of Emily Rose kept me awake for days!

But I do not believe that an otherwise innocent person can be sent to hell at the sole discretion of a single gypsy. So I'm going into this with a viewpoint of "oh great! Another Hollywood failure to understand religion." I doubt I'm going to come away from this unable to sleep. More likely it'll be an eyeroll and a chuckle. But we'll see.

After the movie:

Well, that was a stupid.

Up next, not sure when but hopefully soon, I'll be doing Saw!

 

[Caldwin]

Saw

Holy hell, that was hugged up! Like, totally in a "I'd probably watch that again" type way. Because, yeah, I'd totally watch it again. That was hugging intense!

Now I have heard that the sequels kinda loose the point of the first one. Like, they lean more towards simple gore and sadistic traps than the whole "appreciate life now" thing. Not sure how true this is. Anyone here watch the other movies in the series that could tell me if the rest of the series is worth watching or not?

 

[Fero McPigletron]

I never saw a complete Saw movie but I saw clips of all the kills on YouTube.

Evil Dead remake is still one of the scariest movies I've seen, even with only a few characters.

 

[Ultra Magnus13]

Saw

Holy hell, that was hugged up! Like, totally in a "I'd probably watch that again" type way. Because, yeah, I'd totally watch it again. That was hugging intense!

Now I have heard that the sequels kinda loose the point of the first one. Like, they lean more towards simple gore and sadistic traps than the whole "appreciate life now" thing. Not sure how true this is. Anyone here watch the other movies in the series that could tell me if the rest of the series is worth watching or not?

I didn't really care for any of them. If I recall correctly the second one was a script for a different movie that got a quick rework when the first Saw was such a hit and they wanted to pump out a sequel quick. I think I remember finding 1 and 2 on about equal footing. I know Ive seen 3 and maybe 4, but they were forgettable enough I don't think I remember anything about them, other than one having a shotgun collar that wouldn't have really worked as depicted.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Over at my place, we're doing a few things.

Sat down with roommate to watch ParaNorman. They'd never seen it before, so glad we could do that. (And yeah the upcoming Thrifting thing for ParaNorman was the main reason)

This Saturday (so aka Tomorrow) We're doing the Saturday Morning Stream I always do, but this time it'll be just about every kids anthology 'horror' show we can find.

'Horror' because a couple are loosely horror. Like Round the Twist, and Eerie Indiana. Otherwise, I have an episode of such shows like: Deadtime Stories, Creeped out, Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Bone Chillers, Spooksville, Freaky Stories, Nightmare Room, Haunting Hour, and possibly adding an episode of Grizzy tales, and Moville.

Then the next Saturday (The 25th) We are doing the normal Halloween stream, which will be all about Vampires this year!
Scooby Doo Music of the Vampire (because others must suffer through this like me)
Dear Dracula (Haven't seen it, but it's about a kid who doesn't want to wait till Christmas to write Santa, so he decides to write Dracula for Halloween instead. Dracula responds, but is a shadow of his former self and can't scare anymore, so the kid decides to help him get his mojo back.)
Transylvania 6-5000. (I don't think it's exclusivly vampires. Never seen it, but it says it's about two journalests heading to a town to find Frankenstien's monster, only meeting a vampire and possibly other creatures. Got it because of the cast. Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr, and Michael Richards!)
Dracula 2000 (I remember it being decent. I have a feeling it's going to be 2000's as all heck though.)
Fright Night (never seen, but heard good things. Seen the vampiries in it. Holy hell that'd scare the bleep out of me in real life)
And finally going to end it on a classic I don't think many of my viewers have seen.
Dusk till Dawn.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

ParaNorman was awesome!

Watch choice eps of Real Ghostbusters! Beware of Lupusville, Sliders Go Home, Ragnarok and Roll,

 

[Badgertron]

Over at my place, we're doing a few things.

Sat down with roommate to watch ParaNorman. They'd never seen it before, so glad we could do that. (And yeah the upcoming Thrifting thing for ParaNorman was the main reason)

This Saturday (so aka Tomorrow) We're doing the Saturday Morning Stream I always do, but this time it'll be just about every kids anthology 'horror' show we can find.

'Horror' because a couple are loosely horror. Like Round the Twist, and Eerie Indiana. Otherwise, I have an episode of such shows like: Deadtime Stories, Creeped out, Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Bone Chillers, Spooksville, Freaky Stories, Nightmare Room, Haunting Hour, and possibly adding an episode of Grizzy tales, and Moville.

Then the next Saturday (The 25th) We are doing the normal Halloween stream, which will be all about Vampires this year!
Scooby Doo Music of the Vampire (because others must suffer through this like me)
Dear Dracula (Haven't seen it, but it's about a kid who doesn't want to wait till Christmas to write Santa, so he decides to write Dracula for Halloween instead. Dracula responds, but is a shadow of his former self and can't scare anymore, so the kid decides to help him get his mojo back.)
Transylvania 6-5000. (I don't think it's exclusivly vampires. Never seen it, but it says it's about two journalests heading to a town to find Frankenstien's monster, only meeting a vampire and possibly other creatures. Got it because of the cast. Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr, and Michael Richards!)
Dracula 2000 (I remember it being decent. I have a feeling it's going to be 2000's as all heck though.)
Fright Night (never seen, but heard good things. Seen the vampiries in it. Holy hell that'd scare the bleep out of me in real life)
And finally going to end it on a classic I don't think many of my viewers have seen.
Dusk till Dawn.

Transylvania 6-5000 was one of my childhood faves. It also has Geena Davis! Looking forward to hearing your impressions

 

[Caldwin]

I went to the dentist today. Before heading back to my side of town I figured I'd get some Chinese at the mall food court On my way in, I stopped by Barns & Noble.

The had the Criterion Godzilla. It includes the Japanese Gojira as well as the American Godzilla.

Never having seen a Godzilla movie in my life (aside from the Matthew Brodrick one that I'm sure most people would say doesn't count), I'm excited to see this.

The lady at the checkout suggested watching the original Japanese. That's what I'm intending on doing.

But I'm curious. Is there really any difference in content? Is the translation in any way competent?

So I watched Gojira. I may watch Godzilla, King of Monsters at some point, but not today.

A note about the Criterion edition, only Gojira is on the 4K disk. Meanwhile bothe Gojira and Godzilla, King of Monsters is on the BluRay.

I don't know what I expected going into this. Godzilla actually wasn't in the movie a whole lot. I mean, when he was on screen, he made a heckuva impact, but he was used rather sparingly. That's probably how it should be with these monster movies.

I'm trying to be kind when it comes to the effects. After all, it was made in 1954. It's not like I can expect miracles. Still, let's just say it was very obvious they were using toy models and wires were very visible. The Godzilla suit was also fairly unconvincing in a lot of shots...but still surprisingly pulled off rather well in other shots. Still, given some slack since it is 1954, it was surprisingly watchable in the whole "respect the arthouse movies" kind of way.

At the very least, even with all of its outdatedness, it absolutely has not put me off of watching the 1956 American version. Quite the opposite. I'll definetly have to watch the American version just to compare/contrast...hopefully sooner rather than later.

From what I've heard, there's a color version somewhere out there. I don't think I'll pursue it though. RESPECT THE BLACK AND WHITE!!!!

 

[Haywire]

If you want to watch a Godzilla with effects that hold up quite well, you cannot go wrong with Godzilla Minus One. It really does live up to the hype.

 

[Caldwin]

I've heard the "Minus One" title several times today. I may have to check it out.

 

[Platypus Prime]

What's truly bizarre is watching Minus One, then watching Minus One Minus Color. I'm not joking, different things show up better in one version more than the other, both ways, making it almost like watching two different movies, not a recoloring of one. I'm not sure how to explain how weird the effect is other than someone just seeing it themselves.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

If you're going to watch Minus One (do it), make sure you have good speakers. You're gonna want to feel the music.

 

[Haywire]

If you like cinematic universes, the original Godzilla series (1954-75) is pretty expansive; they do have fairly dated effects (though I almost prefer the practical stuff over effects in most modern films), but there's a lot of variety in the kaiju and settings of each movie, which makes them a pretty fun watch There's a fairly rough continuity from 1954 through 1965, after that the movies are more episodic.

The Heisei era films (1984-1995) have some epic monster designs, look a lot more polished, and have a slightly more cohesive continuity from start to finish. The 1984 sequel basically makes a fresh start after the 1954 original, and then stories bring in classic and new kaiju in fresh(ish) ways. They do tend to run long compared to the older films, and most battles are a lot less physical than the older films, relying more on ray attacks and the like (but there are still some "Wow" moments).

The Millenium series (1999-2004) was...
experimental. Japanese Godzilla had taken a hiatus to let the 1998 American film have the spotlight (for better or worse), and now Toho was trying to see what direction to take the Big G in next. Effects lean heavily into CGI (for better or worse), and stories are kind of all over the place, with little kids taking roles in many of the movies (this happened a couple times in the late 60s/early 70s, but little kids was kind of Gamera's shtick). Some fans will say the highlight film of this era is "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack". I am not one of those fans, I think the film is overrated, but it does make some nice occasional call-outs to the original series. Godzilla would go on hiatus again after 2004's Final Wars, unable to cope with Don Frye's epic mustache in that film...

After that, the Legendary films started coming out in 2014 and are ongoing, after a series of planning meetings Hideaki Anno inflicted Shin Godzilla on the world as a substitute for the live action Evangelion movie that isn't getting made, and then Godzilla Minus One went back to the Monster King's roots, all the way back to 1945 (but in 2023)!

I would definitely recommend Minus One for one of your next Godzilla films, beyond that there are a lot of gems from Godzilla's 70 year history, they are definitely worth checking out!

 

[Caldwin]

I ordered Minus 1 from Amazon. I should have it tomorrow. So the plan (subject to change) is to watch the American Godzilla tonight and, depending on how late the delivery is tomorrow, watch Minus 1 tomorrow.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

If you like cinematic universes, the original Godzilla series (1954-75) is pretty expansive;

I've written about this before. Toho did the whole cinematic universe long before Marvel did, and arguably on the same scale. Even if we cap it at Destroy all Monsters because that was supposed to be the grand finale, that's a 14 year run. It needs to be remembered for what it is.

There's a fairly rough continuity from 1954 through 1965, after that the movies are more episodic.

This needs to be stressed. Don't just watch the classics in any random order. There actually is a storyline, and I do not cap it at 1965. 1966-1968 fit way more tightly than they get credit for. 1972-1975 also kinda work but the timeline gets screwy.

The Heisei era films (1984-1995) have some epic monster designs, look a lot more polished, and have a slightly more cohesive continuity from start to finish. The 1984 sequel basically makes a fresh start after the 1954 original, and then stories bring in classic and new kaiju in fresh(ish) ways. They do tend to run long compared to the older films, and most battles are a lot less physical than the older films, relying more on ray attacks and the like (but there are still some "Wow" moments).

I'm going to love any Godzilla saga unconditionally, but I love the Heisei films a little less. They're pompous. Overall I think the destination is worth the journey, but it is a bumpy journey.

I've got a soft spot for Godzilla vs King Ghidorah though. That was Akira Ifukube's comeback tour, and he understood the assignment. The whole soundtrack screams "I'm back", which fits the film perfectly. It elevates the whole thing a lot.

The Millenium series (1999-2004) was...

Kind of a waste of time, sadly. It's just vignettes. Little standalone universes that are over too soon to get attached. The highlight of the era is not GMK (which sucks). The highlight is what fans call the Kiryu Saga. It's the only slice of the Millennium series that lasts long enough to feel like it matters, and it helps that the films in question are... actually good! The fights are good. The human drama is surprisingly not a drag. And the soundtracks. Oh my god the soundtracks in those two films. I have been listening to them daily since... ... ... it's been a while. They're bangers.

 

[Haywire]

This needs to be stressed. Don't just watch the classics in any random order. There actually is a storyline, and I do not cap it at 1965. 1966-1968 fit way more tightly than they get credit for. 1972-1975 also kinda work but the timeline gets screwy.

The only reason I stopped at 1965 is that it feels like Destroy All Monsters is still the endgame story for the Showa era, while the South Seas movies and 69-75 films slot in somewhere between 65 and DAM. So it's not a throughline story, but I agree that there is a definite storyline at play.

I'm going to love any Godzilla saga unconditionally, but I love the Heisei films a little less. They're pompous. Overall I think the destination is worth the journey, but it is a bumpy journey.

Pompous and Ponderous were both words that came to mind last night when I was trying to describe most of the Heisei films. It is by far my favorite Godzilla suit design, and I have an especial fondness for Godzilla vs Biollante and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, but I have no illusions that Heisei has its flaws. For 11 year old kid me, living in the American Midwest, the bulk of the Heisei series was practically unavailable for many years, and so gained a sort of mythical status in my head (much like Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs The Smog Monster) that is hard to shake to this day.

Kind of a waste of time, sadly. It's just vignettes. Little standalone universes that are over too soon to get attached. The highlight of the era is not GMK (which sucks). The highlight is what fans call the Kiryu Saga. It's the only slice of the Millennium series that lasts long enough to feel like it matters, and it helps that the films in question are... actually good! The fights are good. The human drama is surprisingly not a drag. And the soundtracks. Oh my god the soundtracks in those two films. I have been listening to them daily since... ... ... it's been a while. They're bangers.

The Kiryu Saga is definitely MY highpoint of Millenium. I couldn't agree more!

 

[Caldwin]

I'm only 16 minutes into Godzilla and already I vastly like Gojira better. So far it's all the narrator explaining to me what's going on instead of things being explained through dialogue and action.

On the one hand, it's kind of novel that instead of dubbing over the Japanese actors with English voices, they left if the Japanese and found another way to tell the audience what's going on. But unfortunately, the other way they're telling us what's going on is primarily through a narrator...which just isn't a good way to do it imo.

There's still plenty more movie left to go, but so far, I vastly prefer Gojira and I don't see how that's going to change.

 

[Caldwin]

I'm afraid I fell asleep at some point. But even at that I feel like I saw enough I can make a judgement. Not long after I posted the above saying how they kept the Japanese dialogue and had a narrator telling the audience what was going on, they actually started to dub English over the Japanese...which made the narrator even more pointless than before.

I don't know what else Raymond Burr has been in and I don't want to risk drawing the ire of fans of an actor. But in the case of Godzilla, the character he played was more than superfluous. The character was forced into a narrative he quite simply didn't belong in.

To be completely honest, I could easily foresee myself watching Gojira again, but I really can't foresee myself having any interest in watching Godzilla again.

That said, I can't wait to see Godzilla Minus 1. Hopefully it will be delivered early enough that I can watch it tomorrow. But in any case, I definitely hope to see it really soon. I've heard nothing but good about it.

 

[Haywire]

Raymond Burr is most famous for playing TV lawyer Perry Mason. I will say two positive things about Godzilla:
1) The Narrator-style dubbing has the unique advantage of being able to be recorded and played books-on-tape-style in a car on a long-ish drive. This has helped me get through a trip on more than one occasion.
2) Go watch the Pinky and the Brain episode "Tokyo Grows". It will make so much more sense after watching Godzilla.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Now you know why Godzilla fans are always going on about how the originals are better. It's not a weeb thing. Some of these films got absolutely massacred.