I watched quite a bit this weekend so here we go
I haven't seen this since it's release on bluray. It was nice to revist, I kind of forgot how dirty and grungy the film was shot. The score is perfect compliment to it's visuals. My wife is now obsessed with the soundtrack, she's listened to it at least once a day since we watched it and I'm pretty sure she listened to it 3 times on Sunday.
I've seen this movie so many times over years, I've watched it on VHS endlessly, DVD and bluray. I've even seen it projected a few times, usually DVD/Bluray and once a nice DCP. Well this weekend I was able to see it in 35mm for the first time. The print was in incredible condition, it looked stunning. The audio was a touch too loud and caused some clipping in the speakers but it worked for some of the louder dream sequences. Freddy is so ingrained in my memory as the pop culture horror icon, I sometimes forget how fucking scary he is in this first film. It's a master piece. To this day I do have one very minor gripe with the film and it's the extended arms scene, it just doesn't work, it's not scary and feels like it wasn't quite what Wes wanted but it was the closest he could get with the tech at the time. It was also really nice to see it with an almost sold out crowd of horror fans. There were maybe 8 people in the theater who had not seen it before.
This one straddles the line between giallo and poliziotteschi. Quite enjoyable with a great soundtrack. Very interesting to see a woman in such a strong leading role at that period in Italy.
I was able to watch the Directors Cut as that seems to be the best version of the film, it expands on characters much more than the theatrical so I opted for that. I completely understand why this film was so divisive. It's not for everyone, there's minimal gore and it's not really that scary. With that said, I adored it and continue to realize that cult films work quite well for me. It's not perfect, it's a touch too long but I was engrossed from beginning to end, it never felt slow (or fast). I hated every character and I wanted to see their demise. I really like the world Ari created here. I won't revisit too often but I did like it much more than Hereditary (which I also enjoyed). This won't be at the top of my favorites for the year but it was a good film.
Larry Fessendens's Frankenstein. This was great, it won't be for everyone but Larry's films never really are. I feel like if you've liked his previous directorial efforts then you should like this. It's an interesting modern take on the classic tale.
This one fell completely flat for me. I've seen lots of people say it's one of the best horror films of the year. I completely disagree, unless you are watching bottom of the barrel crap. This isn't a bad film, it's really well made I just didn't give a shit about it. The characters were kind of weak and generic, broken girl, friends cheer her up by going out, meets guy, guys friend is asshole, they decide to go to a haunt and stuff goes bad. Some interesting ideas in the film but overall the film fell flat. The wife asked at the end of the movie, was that even a "real" movie? The ending is trash btw. Worth a watch once it hits shudder at the end of the month, you may end up loving it, for me it's a really well made mediocre film.
Also watched Creepshow episode 2, hated the first part. Even the great Jeffrey Combs couldn't save it (he was the best part) and I applaud them for not trying to do werewolf transformation in shitty CG but come on, we didn't need to see 3 comic book transformations in a row, one would have been enough. This felt so amateurish it was embarrassing. The second one I enjoyed, it had some of that humor we were lacking in the previous 3 segments, I liked the creature and the story even with how simple it ended up. It's not a great segment but the best so far.