[Hatter313]

Nice run, ScoJ. I also enjoy The Gate quite a bit going back to my (relative) youth. It was a pleasant surprise; looking forward to chapter two. I've still never seen Something Wicked...

I know o always chime in when this one gets fraught up, but Something wicked is great, The book is the progenitor of the “kids fight the monster” sub-genre for sure and my favorite novel of all time.

The film is good, If you are in the mood for something pastoral, light on horror the way we usually mean pe se, but high on classic gothic October mood, it’s perfect. Jonathan pryce and Jason Robards are great foils for one another.

[ScoJo]

It's great that you always chime in @Hatter - love your enthusiasm for the book. It's well overdue a re-read by myself.

The film does have more overtly horrific stuff than you remember, perhaps. Definitely pretty intense for children- you can see why Disney showed little enthusiasm in promoting it over the years (along with the equally dark fantasy of Return to Oz)
I recall that Bradbury fell out with the director, his friend Jack Clayton (The Innocents) during shooting, due to disagreement over the film's tone I think?

[Mateo Sanboval]

It's great that you always chime in @Hatter - love your enthusiasm for the book. It's well overdue a re-read by myself.

The film does have more overtly horrific stuff than you remember, perhaps. Definitely pretty intense for children- you can see why Disney showed little enthusiasm in promoting it over the years (along with the equally dark fantasy of Return to Oz)
I recall that Bradbury fell out with the director, his friend Jack Clayton (The Innocents) during shooting, due to disagreement over the film's tone I think?

I was just reading about this film's production and it seems that the Bradbury/Clayton falling out was over Clayton's clandestine commissioning of an uncredited script rewrite at Disney's behest. Prior to that point, Bradbury and Clayton had been in lockstep resisting Disney's desires to augment the tone of the film. In fact, Clayton was eventually removed as director for reshoots, as was the editor, and an apparently groundbreaking effects sequence was cut from the picture. In another interesting twist, after the reshoot-amended film tested poorly, Disney ended up rehiring Bradbury to pen narration and a new ending.

Nuggets from the wiki:

Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay in 1958, intended as a directorial vehicle for Gene Kelly. Financing for the project never came, and Bradbury converted the screenplay into a novel, published in 1962.

In 1977, Bradbury sold the film rights to Something Wicked This Way Comes to Paramount Pictures. He and director Jack Clayton, who Bradbury had previously worked with on Moby Dick, produced a completed script. The movie was intended to be produced by Kirk Douglas' Bryna Productions, and Douglas was to have starred in it. However, production never began and the film was eventually put into turnaround. At various times, Sam Peckinpah and Steven Spielberg expressed interest in making the film.

At this time Walt Disney Pictures was concentrating on films with more mature themes in an attempt to break free from their stereotype as an animation and family film studio on April 1, 1983. After the success of family-oriented fantasy pictures by competing studios, such as Time Bandits and The Dark Crystal, Disney decided to purchase the adaptation's rights and hired Bradbury to produce a new script from scratch.

[Hatter313]

the Black Ferris is an interesting read, it’s a supplement is one of the editions of the book I’ve got here, and it’s really interesting to see the idea evolve. There’s an episode of the Ray Bradbury Theater that does a slimmed down adaption of the original black Ferris script that’s Pretty cool.

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The black Ferris is included in the edition on the left, the middle is a near mint first edition that I just acquired, and the right is the paperback I’ve read for the last 20 years

[ScoJo]

^ Beautiful 1st ed. I must look into The Black Ferris.

Now viddying (also known as 'Burn Witch Burn!', based on Fritz Lieber's Conjure Wife):

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[Bezulsqy]

32nd spaghetti western is Enzo G. Castellari's 1967 Sette winchester per un massacro
score by Francesco de Masi

[ScoJo]

^ Beautiful 1st ed. I must look into The Black Ferris.

Now viddying (also known as 'Burn Witch Burn!', based on Fritz Lieber's Conjure Wife):

image.jpeg

This film was fantastic! Would be a great double bill with Romero's Season of the Witch (aka Jack's Wife)

[Bezulsqy]

[Mateo Sanboval]

A buddy just told me this was well worth the time. What say you, Bez?

[Bezulsqy]

A buddy just told me this was well worth the time. What say you, Bez?

I agree. Some brilliant and enjoyable action sequences. Excellent sci-fi action flick. Some stuff I did not care for but that didn’t spoil the fun.

[inksb]

UPGRADE

A buddy just told me this was well worth the time. What say you, Bez?

I see how it is Mateo, I recommend it last week but you need to have Bez tell you it's good before you'll watch it :P

[Mateo Sanboval]

UPGRADE

A buddy just told me this was well worth the time. What say you, Bez?

I see how it is Mateo, I recommend it last week but you need to have Bez tell you it's good before you'll watch it :P

Ha! One thousand pardons, Inks. I just went back and saw your post. I must've missed it amidst all the riveting Forest Gump chatter. Thanks to your good self, Bez, and my brick & mortar friend for the recommendations.

[inksb]

This one floored me. I went in completely blind, I knew nothing other than it was a polarizing film that got a huge push from the studios and starred Toni Collette. No trailer, no synopsis, nothing. It was beautifully shot, the acting was excellent from everyone involved (Toni in particular was incredible) and a creepy fairly original story. There was some really fantastic imagery in the film. I just don't know how some one convinced the studios to push this film the way it did, it is not an easy sell by any means.

[Bezulsqy]

@inksb, I wish I could have seen that one going in blind. Because of all the hype this movie was not the movie I was expecting. I liked it. But not as much as I wanted. I hope when I revisit it I will get more out of it.

[inksb]

@Bez, I feel like Hereditary is like The Witch was from a few years ago. A very niche title that seemed to receive an excessive amount of praise before release and ultimately created too much hype for itself, setting expectations too high.

[inksb]

Well this film is easily the worst thing I've seen this year. Poorly written, aside from Martin Freeman not very well acted, jump scare after jump scare to little effect and a wrap around so awful I can't believe some one green lit this. It's like some one had a few basic ideas for a horror film, didn't know what to do with them, decided to not flesh them out, place that in a really bad wrap around story that concludes in the most generic way you would accuse it of being a rip off of a rip off of the Twilight Zone. I should have watched Summer of '84 like I had intended to.

[ScoJo]

Well this film is easily the worst thing I've seen this year. Poorly written, aside from Martin Freeman not very well acted, jump scare after jump scare to little effect and a wrap around so awful I can't believe some one green lit this. It's like some one had a few basic ideas for a horror film, didn't know what to do with them, decided to not flesh them out, place that in a really bad wrap around story that concludes in the most generic way you would accuse it of being a rip off of a rip off of the Twilight Zone. I should have watched Summer of '84 like I had intended to.

I feel like I may have already mentioned this here (sorry, you repeat yourself as you get older apparently... ;) but please take my word for it - the stage show of this was absolutely incredible. One of the most outstanding theatre experiences I've ever had, and one of the few true 'horror' theatrical shows (along with Woman in Black, which was also great). The show was wildly successful, probably still running somewhere, and the decision to 'filmify' was obvs a bit of a no-brainer. But as it turns out, everything that was unique to the stage, clever, thrilling, is beyond generic and dull when translated directly to screen. When I first saw the movie poster, for a fraction of a second I got really excited (memories of the show, which I saw three times) but then immediately lost interest. I think I knew deep down that it just wouldn't work.
Saw it on VOD with low expectations, and it still managed to disappoint. Dreck, in fact.

I'll give you one example of why the show was so amazing. The first story, with the security guard/dolls etc? This was all played out by one actor onstage, in almost complete darkness, with only his torch waving about to reveal things around him, with revolving sets and actors playing demons sneaking around him in the dark. Incredibly effective in a live setting, but pretty boiler plate horror stuff in a movie.

[Mateo Sanboval]

That sounds like a really cool show.

[Hatter313]

Well this film is easily the worst thing I've seen this year. Poorly written, aside from Martin Freeman not very well acted, jump scare after jump scare to little effect and a wrap around so awful I can't believe some one green lit this. It's like some one had a few basic ideas for a horror film, didn't know what to do with them, decided to not flesh them out, place that in a really bad wrap around story that concludes in the most generic way you would accuse it of being a rip off of a rip off of the Twilight Zone. I should have watched Summer of '84 like I had intended to.

I feel like I may have already mentioned this here (sorry, you repeat yourself as you get older apparently... ;) but please take my word for it - the stage show of this was absolutely incredible. One of the most outstanding theatre experiences I've ever had, and one of the few true 'horror' theatrical shows (along with Woman in Black, which was also great). The show was wildly successful, probably still running somewhere, and the decision to 'filmify' was obvs a bit of a no-brainer. But as it turns out, everything that was unique to the stage, clever, thrilling, is beyond generic and dull when translated directly to screen. When I first saw the movie poster, for a fraction of a second I got really excited (memories of the show, which I saw three times) but then immediately lost interest. I think I knew deep down that it just wouldn't work.
Saw it on VOD with low expectations, and it still managed to disappoint. Dreck, in fact.

I'll give you one example of why the show was so amazing. The first story, with the security guard/dolls etc? This was all played out by one actor onstage, in almost complete darkness, with only his torch waving about to reveal things around him, with revolving sets and actors playing demons sneaking around him in the dark. Incredibly effective in a live setting, but pretty boiler plate horror stuff in a movie.

1. Thank you for the mentioningn this, I’ve been trying to figure out why I had an idea that this was some sort of unsung masterpiece when all the reviews I read were garbage, I think the show got very good notices and that’s what I was thinking of whenever I saw the title pop up.

2. I know what you mean about translation from theater to film, a simple idea that is cleverly executed in a theatrical setting can be like a magic trick, gorgeous and interesting and right there in front of you so you can relish in the staging, the lighting, the trickery to make you see what the theater wants you to see, but so often when this is translated to film the simplicity of even the relative banality of the idea or image just becomes another shot in a film. It easy to have things appear or disappear on film, it’s simple if not easy to show an effective transformation of some kind in a movie, but on stage these things have to be so carefully thought out that you can sometimes more easily appreciate the effort in a live setting. Shame it didn’t translate, but some things are meant to be theater and not everything can be filmed. For some theater, I almost always prefer a filmed stage production over a film adaptation, staging does so much, and the artifice is part of the charm.

[inksb]

I had no idea that was a theatrical production originally. Makes much more sense and the first section sounds great from the way you describe it @scojo. In the film the first section had a ton of potential and then just fizzled out terribly. Uh, just one of the most disappointing thing I've seen this year and my expectations were not very high.

[ScoJo]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ0Yhq_v4b0

[skeletonbutt]

upgrade is amazing. like elements of death wish, robocop, knight rider, blade runner, and the terminator all mixed up. hope there is a sequel.

i knew nothing about ghost stories and liked it a lot. shrug.

[inksb]

Continuing my theme of ghosts for the weekend viewing.


While this is the weakest of the franchise I enjoyed it quite a bit. I love that Alise has become the main character and that Lin Shaye has been given the opportunity lead the franshcise makes me so happy. It has some clever scares, interesting creature design and a good cast. I like the Insidious franchise and hope to see it continue.


A fantastic film. This was my first viewing and I can't believe it's taken me this long to see it. I grabbed Second Sights bluray that just came out and the transfer is excellent. Highly recommended if you don't own the film already.

[inksb]

Alright everyone, I need some recommendations. I've recently had a desire to watch 80's & early 90's anime. I've seen a lot of the classics but realized recently I've missed out on some pretty popular stuff.

So what I can think of off the top of my head that I've seen is:
Vampire Hunter D (also Bloodlust but that's way later than I'm looking for anyways)
Wicked City
Legend of Overfiend
Goku Midnight Eye
Devilman Birth & Demon Bird
Demon City Shinjuku
Akira (a given but some one would have recommended it :P )
Ninja Scroll


I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting but that gives you an idea of what I'm looking for. Crazy creature, hyper violent, weird future tech, etc.

I just saw a bluray for an anime called Angel Cop is coming out, I'll probably check that out.

[Bezulsqy]

^ pat labor
Perfect blue