31 Days of Halloween (2022)

[Fero McPigletron]

I've seen two eps and, no, there isn't a sign of the clown look yet. There's another, weirder thing that's attacking kids, ew.

There's different looks shown in the drawn intro, from the past. An Easter bunny, a giant bird with red balloon. I think the clown was shown in the background somewhere.

 

[Caldwin]

I was able to overnight deliver a a Saw collection with all 10 movies as well as a 3-Movie Cloverfield collection. I still have a Godzilla Minus One Minus Color digital version I haven't gotten to yet.

I really want to work through some of these soon.

Waiting for the Minus One review. Riot if he hates it. Kidding.

While I'm making a reply anyway, I wanted to circle back to this. I was really wanting to start my review off with how much I hated the movie and then put my real review in spoiler tags. But after I watched it, I loved it so hugging much that I couldn't even pretend.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

Haha! At least you tried, hehe. I'm pretty sure it's unanimously beloved.

 

[Caldwin]

Okay, Cloverfield...I've never watched a "found footage" film before. I'm only 18 minutes in and finally something seems to be happening. I didn't know that this was PG-13 when I bought it. But I guess that means at lease any vomiting on my part won't be because of gore. It's more likely to be from all the hugging camera movement non-stop. But yeah, 18 minutes in, I do't think kI'll ever be watching a "found footage" film again. I've never watched a horror movie before where the horror bits actually aren't the uncomfortable bits.

I may or may not say more once I'm done with this film. But if the next two films in this collection are like this...I don't think I'll be watching them.

 

[Thefakelink]

10 cloverfield lane is the only one worth watching. No found footage feel as far as I can remember.

 

[Caldwin]

Well, it took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on. And...I mean, I can't say it wasn't suspenseful, because it was. It was definitely suspenseful. Took a while to get there, but...yeah.

But for my first "found footage" film...I don't think I can see it as ever Being a style of story telling that I'll be able to get into.

Thanks for letting me know that's not how 10 Cloverfield Lane is. Maybe I'll watch it. I mean, I own the BluRay collection. So I might as well. But uh...yeah.

 

[Ultra Magnus13]

Okay, Cloverfield...I've never watched a "found footage" film before. I'm only 18 minutes in and finally something seems to be happening. I didn't know that this was PG-13 when I bought it. But I guess that means at lease any vomiting on my part won't be because of gore. It's more likely to be from all the hugging camera movement non-stop. But yeah, 18 minutes in, I do't think kI'll ever be watching a "found footage" film again. I've never watched a horror movie before where the horror bits actually aren't the uncomfortable bits.

I may or may not say more once I'm done with this film. But if the next two films in this collection are like this...I don't think I'll be watching them.

First Cloverfield is 100% trash. It would be a bad movie without the found footage gimmick, that just pushes it over the edge into super garbage.

10 Cloverfield Lane is pretty great and suspenseful.

Cloverfield Paradox is an ok, but forgettable one time watch.

 

[Caldwin]

10 Cloverfield Lane:

Uh...holy jive! That is not at all what I expected. It was like 90% kidnapped suspense try to break free and only 10% monster movie. Like, there was only 10 minutes worth of escaping a monster. It was like an ending plot twist...except the twist is what I was expecting the whole movie to be while the rest of the movie was...not a monster movie. It was John Goodman being a creepy kidnapper type guy to get away from...only he was right that the outside wasn't safe. Like...okay, probably none of what I just typed made any lick of sense if you haven't seen the movie. But...like...this is not what I was expecting. I don't know if I mean that in a good way or a bad way. Because...I mean...what the heck?!?!?

Okay, now I'm going to have to see Cloverfield Paradox just to see how/if this whole thing wraps up.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I've only seen the first one. It didn't do anything for me.

I don't get motion sickness , so that's not a problem. It was just a broken concept. A found footage kaiju movie sounds like a neat idea but it doesn't work. The whole appeal of found footage is that everything is happening in front of the camera, in very extended takes. It's associated with low budget amateur films because it is a low budget technique, but it's also a great way for new directors to demonstrate that they deserve to be taken seriously. You do not want to do reshoots when you're doing such long camera takes. Imagine the pressure. Anyone who can make it work has to have some serious planning skills.

It's not so impressive when things are just CGI. Then the whole thing is just a gimmick and kind of annoying.

 

[Caldwin]

Okay, just finished Cloverfield Paradox. Uh...well...you know what? I think I'm done. Like, even if there's another movie in the future that finally ties these three together and wraps everything up...I think I'm just done.

Cloverfield:
Didn't like it. "Found Footage" movie where the camera never...hugging...stops? I mean, thank goodness I didn't see it in the theatre or I might have seriously vomited. It had some decent moments. But over all, just...yick!
2/5 stars

10 Cloverfield Lane:
It was pretty good for a suspense film. But the aliens at the end felt like they had absolutely nothing to do with the kaiju from the first film and I'm left wondering how the two are connected at all. I mean, as a stand alone suspense film where she was trying to get away from the crazy ass John Goodman Character, it was pretty good. But they probably should have ended it after her escape, because the aliens felt so different from the kaiju as to not even feel like the same universe and their inclusion really did nothing to further the story.
3.5/5 stars. If they had ended it after the escape and just not even brought the aliens into it at the end...4/5 stars

Cloverfield Paradox:
It felt like it had more in common with Event Horizon than it did Cloverfield. There wasn't even any kaiju in it until 5 seconds before the rolling of the credits...and yeah, it was a kaiju, but it didn't look like the same kaiju from the first movie. So I'm still wondering how any of these movies connect with each other. By itself, this one felt like Event Horizon Lite. Like, it was okay, but I don't see myself watching it again.
3/5 stars

But seriously...what did any of these movies have to do with eachother?

 

[Donocropolis]

Pretty sure that they were never meant to form any sort of coherent, continuing story. The "Cloverfield " movies are more of an anthology. More like episodes of Twighlight Zone than a film trilogy.

 

[Caldwin]

Well that just makes it even worse. I mean, there's ending's that are ambiguous, endings that are straight up bad for the main characters...and there are endings that are straight up cliffhangers.

Character gets dragged off screaming "it's a cook book." Sad ending, but it doesn't need anything else afterwards. It's a satisfying ending, if a bit of a downer. You may not actually see his fate, but you can pretty much assume he's screwed. No more need be said.

Character finds the remains of the Statue of Liberty on the shoreline and realizes he's been on Earth this whole time. Also a bit of a downer, but the movie has made its point. It had its reveal. The questions are answered. No sequel needed (even if it did get a ton of sequels).

Woman escapes the bomb shelter of a murderous psycho and finds out in the last ten minutes that there actually is an alien investigation. She could go find sanctuary or she can go help aid in the resistance. She turns to go to the resistance. Okay, then what? In a vacuum, not having seen the original movie before, would may have only just found out ten minutes ago that this is an alien invasion. Hell, even those who did see the first movie just found out ten minutes ago that this is an alien invasion and not some ordinary kaiju monster. I think a hugging explanation is in order!

We think we're following a Event Horizon type space horror only for a kaiju to appear in the last 5 seconds. Did the escape pod survive? How goes the human resistance? Is there a human resistance? I mean, damn, movie! Don't just stuff a kaiju in at the last 5 seconds with no explanation and think that's a good place to end it!

If you're going for an anthology, it's okay to end with a downer ending, but don't end on a cliffhanger with no expectation of resolution!.

Man! Hug this series. I'm moving on to Saw.

 

[Donocropolis]

Well that just makes it even worse. I mean, there's ending's that are ambiguous, endings that are straight up bad for the main characters...and there are endings that are straight up cliffhangers.

Character gets dragged off screaming "it's a cook book." Sad ending, but it doesn't need anything else afterwards. It's a satisfying ending, if a bit of a downer. You may not actually see his fate, but you can pretty much assume he's screwed. No more need be said.

Character finds the remains of the Statue of Liberty on the shoreline and realizes he's been on Earth this whole time. Also a bit of a downer, but the movie has made its point. It had its reveal. The questions are answered. No sequel needed (even if it did get a ton of sequels).

Woman escapes the bomb shelter of a murderous psycho and finds out in the last ten minutes that there actually is an alien investigation. She could go find sanctuary or she can go help aid in the resistance. She turns to go to the resistance. Okay, then what? In a vacuum, not having seen the original movie before, would may have only just found out ten minutes ago that this is an alien invasion. Hell, even those who did see the first movie just found out ten minutes ago that this is an alien invasion and not some ordinary kaiju monster. I think a hugging explanation is in order!

We think we're following a Event Horizon type space horror only for a kaiju to appear in the last 5 seconds. Did the escape pod survive? How goes the human resistance? Is there a human resistance? I mean, damn, movie! Don't just stuff a kaiju in at the last 5 seconds with no explanation and think that's a good place to end it!

If you're going for an anthology, it's okay to end with a downer ending, but don't end on a cliffhanger with no expectation of resolution!.

Man! Hug this series. I'm moving on to Saw.

Keep in mind that I haven't seen Cloverfield Paradox yet, and haven't seen the first two Cloverfield movies since watching them the for the first and only time when they came out so my memories may not be 100% correct, but I think the ending of Cloverfield Lane works well enough. By the time you find out that John Goodman has been right all along (though still crazy and abusive / murderous), it comes as enough of a surprise that it serves as a twist ending. Her heading off to help the resistance instead of going towards safety is there to finish of her character arc. She's been through hell, but hasn't been broken by it. In fact, she's come to realize what she's capable of and makes the decision to help others instead of just herself. Certainly there's a story that could be told about what happens after, but that's a different sort of movie entirely, a more standard alien invasion type movie. I don't feel that the ending is any less complete than the ending of "To Serve Man."

For the original Cloverfield, I do agree that it works better in concept than execution. The idea of a Kaiju movie told entirely by a random resident of the city with no insight into the army/government/secret-monster-controlling-cabal that is forming and executing the response to the monster attack is a super interesting one, but I'm not sure it works as well as a movie. As for the ending of that one, as I recall it just basically ends with the deaths of all the protagonists which is maybe not the most satisfying ending, but a logical enough one for that setup.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

The idea of a Kaiju movie told entirely by a random resident of the city with no insight into the army/government/secret-monster-controlling-cabal that is forming and executing the response to the monster attack is a super interesting one

One thing I eternally adore about Godzilla 1998 is that it touched on this, however briefly. We know what's going on, but the people of New York don't. Unlike so many of these movies (maybe the norm, but I haven't tallied this up), they don't get a warning. There's no harmless sighting in the bay that tips them off to the danger. The army doesn't roll in and build up some defenses that don't work. Nothing. One minute the people have no idea there's a kaiju out there. The next minute they're running. They're barely comprehending what's happening. They don't know if anyone in the world knows what they're going through.

 

[Haywire]

One thing I eternally adore about Godzilla 1998 is that it touched on this, however briefly. We know what's going on, but the people of New York don't. Unlike so many of these movies (maybe the norm, but I haven't tallied this up), they don't get a warning. There's no harmless sighting in the bay that tips them off to the danger. The army doesn't roll in and build up some defenses that don't work. Nothing. One minute the people have no idea there's a kaiju out there. The next minute they're running. They're barely comprehending what's happening. They don't know if anyone in the world knows what they're going through.

There are a lot of things Godzilla '98 did right as a kaiju film. I may not consider it a good Godzilla film, but it IS a pretty good kaiju film.

 

[Caldwin]

Just finished Godzilla Minus One Minus Color.

It was good. The black and white had a charm. I did have a couple problems with it though.

1. One, it was digital Amazon Prime only. So I could only watch it through my PS5 unlike the color BluRay I could watch through my PS3 that's hooked up to a good sound system. But it still sounded pretty good even through the television speakers. This movie has a really good soundtrack.

2. Whereas the color BluRay had both Sub and Dub options, the Amazon Prime Digital only had a Sub option. Sometimes I like Sub. Sometimes I like Dub. I prefer to have a choice, if for no other reason than because whenever I'm watching Subs, I'm usually caust up mmoore reading the subtitles than actually watching the movie.

So, yes, it was good. But unless I can find a physical version with a Dub option, I'll probably keep to my color BluRay...except for maybe those moments where I'm okay with Subs and then I may watch it in B&W again.

In any case, it was still REALLY good. And if I can find a physical Minus Color version with Dub options, I'll very likely get it.

 

[Caldwin]

So the movie to tonight is going to be Saw. Yes, I just saw it a few weeks ago as shown above. But for one thing, this is going to kick off a Sawathon since now I have the 20 Anniversary Collection of all 10 films. This is also going to be the Unrated version. Now, since I've seen the first one only once, I probably don't remember enough of it to have a sharp enough eye to spot all the differences. But if I have anything to say about it, I'll make a followup post. If not, my next movie will, of course, be Saw II, whenever I get to it.

Wish me luck. I am not expecting a pleasant ride...aka, why do I do this to myself.

Cary Elwes. That's why. Cary Elwes.

After The Movie

Okay, granted, I only saw the original version once weeks ago. So whatever differences there were between that and the unrated version, I didn't catch. I will say though, you do catch more your second time through.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to stomach the rest of the series, but having already bought the set, I guess I should try. This is going to be unpleasant.

 

[Ultra Magnus13]

So the movie to tonight is going to be Saw. Yes, I just saw it a few weeks ago as shown above. But for one thing, this is going to kick off a Sawathon since now I have the 20 Anniversary Collection of all 10 films. This is also going to be the Unrated version. Now, since I've seen the first one only once, I probably don't remember enough of it to have a sharp enough eye to spot all the differences. But if I have anything to say about it, I'll make a followup post. If not, my next movie will, of course, be Saw II, whenever I get to it.

Wish me luck. I am not expecting a pleasant ride...aka, why do I do this to myself.

Cary Elwes. That's why. Cary Elwes.

After The Movie

Okay, granted, I only saw the original version once weeks ago. So whatever differences there were between that and the unrated version, I didn't catch. I will say though, you do catch more your second time through.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to stomach the rest of the series, but having already bought the set, I guess I should try. This is going to be unpleasant.

Not sure what movie started it, but in the age of DVD they found out "unrated" cuts sold discs. They wanted you to think this meant scenes too extreme to make it into an R rated cut. What it really meant was exactly what it said. Unrated. As in it wasn't submitted to the ratings board to be rated. In reality they usually just had some deleted scenes edited back into the movie, and usually not for the better. I loved the Dawn of the Dead remake. The "unrated/extended" edition was interesting, just to see an alternate cut, but absolutely inferior to the theatrical.

"Extended edition/cut" became really popular (mostly for sci-fi and fantasy) presumably due to LotR, and was usually the same thing.

Blade Runner, Aliens, Alien 3, Justice League (still not good, but certainly better and more interesting than the theatrical) and LotR are about the only extended cuts I've seen that actually have something to say, and mostly because those are more or less actual directors cuts, rather than deleted scenes re inserted to sell DVDs.