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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Jun 1, 2014 12:33:17 GMT -5
As I've stated before there's a horror movie I partially watched with a friend back before I had Netflix that I found to be funny (so bad its good). We never watched it again (meaning I didn't finish it, something I try to do for just about any movie I start ... no matter the quality) and back then I wasn't smart enough to right down anything that even slightly intrigued me for the purposes of reference or tracking down. Anyway, I'm going to start out by watching every movie on this list (and add my thoughts for each one). I will continue to do this for every movie in my search for that one movie (not going to do movies I've already seen though). letterboxd.com/holliehorror/list/top-200-horror-films-1980-1989/Using that as my first guide. Also want to add that potential spoilers for any of the films discussed in this thread or that are part of this list.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Dec 22, 2014 15:33:16 GMT -5
I watched Toshiharu Ikeda's 1988 Japanese horror film Evil Dead Trap, about a news team that investigates the origin of a potential snuff film sent in to them. The acting was awful-good ,tending mostly towards bad or ok (really over the top). The acts of violence were awful-good, the gore ranged from ok-great, and the special effects ranged from awful-great. Where this movie really shines is it's use of cinematography (not only are there great shots, but the way it moves in certain moments is very fluid and there'd be these moments where it would turn to static and black and white which seemed very reminiscent of The Evil Dead 2) and soundtrack (synth) which melded together perfectly. This movie reminded me of Italian horror films where the acting and logic may be quite flawed ,but other elements such as soundtrack, cool kills, and soundtrack shine through and make it more than just a bad horror film. The result is a very entertaining and I'd say memorable experience, with an extemely quick moving and convuluted story serving as a platform for extremely cool visuals (seriously there was like 8 plot twists). It also reminded me of Saw with it's complex traps. The ending line of "mama" by the by baby was surprisingly creepy and I loved the overly happy music playing over the credits. There'd be times in this film where an act of violence would look fake ,but then right aterwards the result would look incredibly brutal (it was sort of all over the place). Overall I wouldn't say this was a good movie due to the aformentioned lacking qualities (acting, logic, inconsistent special effects) ,but it ended up both somehwat enduring and saving itself to me on it's own merit. Alot of times I'll say a movie is bad yet good (funny) or entertaining unintentionally ,but this is one of the few times where its saved on its own accord.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Dec 22, 2014 15:37:54 GMT -5
My progresson the 200 films so far.
1.The Beyond (1981) NFQ 2.Q: The Winged Serpent (1982); DVD Q Done 3.Possession (1981) Done 4.The Deadly Spawn (1983) Done 5.Night of Death! (1980) NFQ 6.Chirstmas Evil aka You Better Watch Out (1980) YT 7.The Stuff (1985) Done 8.Retribution (1987) Stagevu 9.Society (1989) YT 10.Stage Fright: Aquarius (1987) NFQ, Viooz 11.Anguish (1987) Viooz 12.A Blade in the Dark (1983)YT 13.Nekromantik (1987) Viooz 14.The Lair of the White Worm (1988) Done 15.The Thing (1982) Done 16.Xtro (1983) YT Done 17.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) Viooz 18.Slaughter High (1986) NFQ Done 19.Intruder (1989) Done 20.Unmasked Part 25 (1989) 21.The Burning (1981) Done 22.Nightmare (1981)YT 23.City of the Living Dead (1980) NFQ Done 24.Inferno (1980) Done 25.Evil Dead Trap (1988) NFQ Done 26.The Evil Dead (1981) Done 27.Videodrome (1983) Done 28.Pieces (1982) YT 29.Alone in the Dark (1982) YT 30.The Living Dead Girl (1982) NFQ 31.The Shining (1980) Done 32.The Church (1989) NFQ, possibly YT 33.Re-Animator (1985) Done 34.The Prowler (1981) Done 35.Anthropophagus (1980) Done 36.Scarecrows (1988) YT 37.Day of the Dead (1985) Done 38.The New York Ripper (1982) YT 39.Phenomena (1985) YT 40.Burial Ground (1981) YT 41.Dead Mate (1988) 42.The Howling (1981) Done 43.The Hunger (1983) Done 44.The Video Dead (1987) Viooz 45.Brain Damage (1988) YT 46.Don't Go in the House (1979) YT 47.A Nightmare on Elm Street (1989) Viooz 48.Basket Case (1982) Done 49.C.H.U.D. (1984) Done 50.Prince of Darkness (1987) Done 51.Next of Kin (1982) YT 52.Maniac (1980) Done 53.An American Werewolf in London (1981) Done 54.The House by the Cemetery (1981) YT 55.Near Dark (1987) Done 56.Motel Hell (1980) Done 57.Friday the 13th (1980) Done 58.Dead & Buried (1981) NFQ 59.Pin (1988) Done 60.From Beyond (1986) Viooz 61.Psychos in Love (1987) 62.The Fog (1980) Done 63.Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) Done 64.The Incubus (1982) YT 65.Halloween III: The Season of the Witch (1982) Done 66.Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) NFQ 67.Dream Demon (1988) YT 68.My Bloody Valentine (1981) Done 69.The Beast Within (1982) 70.Tenebre (1982) Done 71.The House on Sorority Row (1983) YT 72.Mr. Vampire (1985) NFQ, 73.Humanoids from the Deep (1980) Done 74.The Mutilator (1985) Done 75.Opera (1987) NFQ, YT 76.Sleepaway Camp (1983) Done 77.Night of the Creeps (1986) Done 78.A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) NFQ, 79.Demons (1985) NFQ, YT 80.Neon Maniacs (1986) NFQ, YT 81.Tetsuo : The Iron Man (1989) Done 82.Deadly Intruder (1985) YT 83.Dolls (1987) YT 84.Bloody Moon (1981) YT 85.Deadtime Stories (1986) YT 86.The Fly (1986) Done 87.Hellraiser (1987) Done 88.Street Trash (1987) NFQ, YT 89.Night Warning (1982) 90.Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) 91.The Kindred (1987) 92.Slugs (1988) Done 93.Night School (1981) 94.Cutting Class (1989) NFQ, YT 95.Madman (1982) Done 96.Mother's Day (1980) YT 97.Crawlspace (1985) YT 98.Deadly Blessing (1981) 99.The Woman in Black (1989) Done 100.Slaughterhouse (1987) 101.The Dorm that Dripped Blood (1982) Done 102.The Pit (1981) 103.The Attic (1980) 104.Macabre (1980) 105.Cellar Dweller (1988) 106.The Funhouse (1981) Done 107.After Midnight (1989) 108.Screamtime (1983) Done 109.976-EVIL (1989) 110.Waxwork (1988) 111.Silent Scream (1989) 112.Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) 113.The Return of the Living Dead (1988) 114.Student Bodies (1981) 115.Curtains (1983) 116.Amsterdamned (1988) 117.Fright Night (1985) Done 118.The Monster Squad (1987) Done 119.Scanners (1981) Done 120.Patrick Still Lives! (1980) 121.The Entity (1982) Done 122.Terrorgram (1988) 123.Poltergeist (1982) 124.Roadgames (1981) 125.Happy Birthday to Me (1981) 126.Murder Obsession (1981) 127.Troll (1986) 128.Creephsow 2 (1987) Done 129.The Gate (1987) 130.Black Roses (1988) 131.From a Whisper to a Scream aka The Offspring (1987) Done 132.The Blob (1988) Done 133.Devil Story (1985) 134.They Live (1988) Done 135.Trick or Treat (1986) 136.A Return to Salem's Lot (1987) 137.Deadline (1984) 138.The Unnameable (1988) Done 139.Parents (1989) 140.Beyond Dream's Door (1989) 141.Vampire's Kiss (1988) 142.Dead Ringers (1988) 143.The Basement (1989) 144.Night of the Demons (1988) Done 145.Slime City (1988) 146.Night Train to Terror (1985) 147.Touch of Death (1988) 148.Paperhouse (1988) 149.Special Effects (1984) 150.Evilspeak (1981) 151.Full Moon High (1981) 152.The Boxer's Omen (1983) 153.House of the Long Shadows (1983) 154.Don't Go in the Woods (1981) Done 155.The Hitcher (1986) Done 156.Night of the Demon (1980) 157.Visiting Hours (1982) 158.Sole Survivor (1983) 159.The Devonsville Terror (1983) 160.Too Scared to Scream (1985) 161.The Midnight Hour (1985) 162.Vamp (1986) 163.Blood Diner (1987) 164.The Final Terror (1983) 165.Ghoulies II (1987) 166.I, Madman (1989) 167.The Outing (1987) 168.Primal Rage (1988) 169.Faceless (1988) 170.Prison (1988) 171.The Dead Pit (1989) 172.April Fool's Day (1986) 173.The Dead Zone (1983) 174.Frightmare (1982) 175.Witchery (1985) 176.Terror Train (1988) 177.Honeymoon Horror (1982) 178.Hunter's Blood (1986) 179.Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986) 180.The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) 181.Howling II... Your Sister is a Werewolf (1985) Done 182.Blood Beat (1983) 183.Doom Asylum (1987) 184.The Boogeyman (1980) Done 185.Hell High (1989) 186.Splatter University (1984) 187.Trick or Treats (1982) 188.Dial: Help (1988) 189.Inseminoid (1981) 190.A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) 191.Mausoleum (1983) 192.Curse II: The Bite (1989) 193.Don't Panic (1989) 194.Death Valley (1982) 195.Superstition (1982) 196.And When She Was Bad (1981) 197.Mortuary (1983) 198.Edge of Sanity (1982) 199.Fade to Black (1980) Done 200.Eyes of Fire (1983)
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Apr 5, 2015 14:34:29 GMT -5
I watched Lucio Fulci's 1980 Italian-American horror film City of the Living Dead aka The Gates of Hell, which is about a priest who's suicide in Dunwich (yes that Dunwich) serves as a catalyst for the dead arising there. The acting was bad-good, although I'd say it was mostly ok-good though. The soundtrack was good and was mainly comprised of the same piece of music being played again and again during various scenes, albeit in slightly different forms, (the song is embedded below), it's a combination of synth, mixed with rock that sounds similar to early 70's blues/hard rock (primarily the guitar riffs, which also reminded me of psychedelic hard rock). The gore ranged from ok-great (mostly good-great),although I thought some of the organ gore looked weaker than the blood. The acts of violence looked good and I thought the cinematography looked good-great (especially outdoors).The zombie effects were bad or good with some of the makeup looking good and at other times the zombie effects looking hokey. The editing used for "magic" effects was awful though, really obvious jump cuts and all of a sudden the zombie has moved or there's a fire. The logic (as I've come to expect from Italian horror films) was lacking though, more on that a little later. Speaking of which the common sense of the characters ranged from awful-good and some of these moments were also unintentionally hilarious. One such scene is where three men at a bar in Dunwich are talking (including the bartender) and the bar mirror explodes like it's been hit by a shotgun, the two customers are rightfully freaked out by this while the bartender reasons it's just gravel from a truck, but then right afterwards the wall splits in half vertically and mist comes in through said crack. Despite this the bartender still reasons they're just being superstitious, but they wisely decide to leave. Then there was another unintentionally hilarious scene where one of the main characters (a journalist) belatedly rescues another main character (who was accidentally buried alive), but only after stopping and then restarting his attempts at intervention three times. He hears her pounding in a cemetery with only two other people (who are leaving/left) and decides he hears nothing, then he hears heavier pounding and moaning and again decided he's actually hearing nothing, and then finally only after she screams does he (rather slowly) rescue her. On the other hand I liked that the psychologist and his patient (two more main characters) are smart enough to realize something is going on after they find a corpse in the kitchen and see the dead about, instead of denying it to point of foolishness because they're people of science as seen in other films. There were three additional scenes that while not lacking logic I did find unintentionally hilarious, first the kitten scene where said kitten is being petted by the psychologist's patient during a session and then freaks out and claws her hand so badly it leaves what looks almost like a bear claw in her hand (great effect though) and she reacts in pain rag dolling said kitten (which reminded me of the hilarious cat scene in Dario Argento's Inferno). Second, you have the maggot scene where for whatever reason the four protagonists are subjected to a maggot storm and become submerged in about a foot of maggots, it seriously looks like somebody took a high powered air blower and just shoots a puddle's worth of maggots into the room, almost like a maggot fountain shooting out. Thirdly, you have the scene where a father kills the local "degenerate" by slowly sliding him into a power drill, it reminded me of the shop teacher's attempted suicide in South Park, and it takes so long that you're actually surprised that he gets drilled through the head and doesn't escape (another great effect). The ending however was really dumb, the kid runs out to hug the surviving protagonists and then the female protagonist starts to scream ,but the thing is there is absolutely nothing wrong with the kid and then the screen crumbles into black through the vine/tentacle like animation that looks really out of place. Interestingly, despite the film having quite a few gory moments it wasn't a video nasty while other Fulci films similar to this one were. This is the third Fulci film I've seen (Don't Torture a Duckling being the first and Zombie 2 the second) and I'd say it's probably my least favorite, however I haven't been bored by any of his films so far. Overall, I'd say that the movie was good ,but far from great. I was entertained throughout and there were some so bad it's good comedy moments as well. On a sidenote, the film has a very good illustrated cover/poster. I also thought I was going to be watching Return of the Living Dead, when I started this movie but soon realized it was one of Fulci's zombie films.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Apr 5, 2015 15:47:22 GMT -5
I watched Harry Bromley Davenport's 1983 British sci-fi horror film Xtro, about a man who's abducted by aliens and comes back different. The acting ranged from bad-good, mostly being ok-good, the only real bad acting was from the child actor (I did notice however that the creepier his character became the better his acting got so I don't want to be too harsh on him). The soundtrack essentially consisted of four different types of music: a variety of synths (from the low horror style to the more science fiction style of 80's synth) which was good, a classical harpsichord tune (which was playing in the background on a radio) which was good, a jazz song (again playing in the background on a radio), and this low horn sounding stuff which reminded me of that older style of horror music which I hate (although it's possible it may have been synth that just sounded like that type of music) which was awful. The acts of violence looked good. I thought the cinematography was great in a variety of locations (from a great shot in the elevator, an ominous shot in an urban alley, beautiful shots of the British countryside, and a night shot that actually looked good despite it being an 80's horror film with their notorious see nothing darkness). Both the gore and other special effects ranged from ok-great (this was true for both the blood and alien effects), for example, the alien eggs and beginning creature looked great, but the alien webbing not so much and I thought the original ending (more on that later) had an effect that looked both hokey and great... simultaneously. I also liked that the characters had better common sense that other horror protagonists do, for example one woman hears a mysterious noise outside her house and actually loads up her double barrel shotgun in preparation and the mom is actually alarmed that her son is covered in blood and screaming, now granted she later seems to get over it ,but only after she's had a doctor check him out (who determines it isn't the boy's blood) and the kid has a reputation for being a mischievous prankster so it is sort of excusable. It also reminded me of the 1981 horror film Possession (which I have discussed here before) in terms of both its weirdness and the genre mixing of sorts (Possession was part horror film, family drama film, and espionage conspiracy film), but this film was a mix of both horror and family drama. I liked that the family drama aspect of the film was actually a compelling and difficult situation (similar to Castaway) where everyone involved had a valid point. After all, if a dad and husband, disappears for three years (through no fault of his own) and then returns he's going to want to be with his family, at the same time the wife has moved on and with a new guy who wants to be with her, the wife is going to have conflicted feeling, and the son is going to want to be back with his dad. I also liked that the aliens in this film were actually alien, they weren't really humanoid and I couldn't discern what they're true agenda and/or functions the whole time I watched. At first I thought the alien was going to cyclically rebirth its flesh body by "face-hugging" victims and then molting out of its victim's skin, but in the end it seemed to only be a way of propagating (and even that theory doesn't seem to completely hold true). Additionally, the film kept me guessing the dad/husband's true motivations, at first it seems he's just an alien who looks like the original man, then it appears that he just wants to be back with his family albeit in a physically altered state because of his abduction, and then it appears that he wants to alter his family as well, almost like a gift so that they'll be enhanced. Speaking of alien powers, he enhances his son by sucking on his neck and the kid abuses his powers horribly (which is something I've seen in horror before ,but is still a good idea). The kid does all kinds of creative and dangerous stuff merely by altering his household toys into living minions: he changes a 2-3 inch toy clown into a dwarf clown who goes around killing people with his sap-like hammer (seriously that thing is in a great creepy shot in the elevator, where it is clung to the ceiling like a goddamned spider), a soldier action figure who becomes life sized (yet still plastic unlike the aforementioned alien clown dwarf monstrosity) who is armed with both a grappling hook gun and a bayonet on his rifle, and finally a toy panther into a large housecat sized panther (with lethal claws and teeth). The ending(s) (on a side note, the climax of the film was going to be the original ending ,but the director didn't like it and added another ending after the original one) was weird: first the altered dad and son begin to rot off their skin and are taken by the aliens leaving the mom in disbelief on a field (I thought the skeletal body of the dad looked great ,but that his skull was too buck toothed and as a result looked more goofy than scary) and then she goes back (for some reason she looks a lot younger despite her hair being the same style, but less puffed up) into her apartment with the room emanating bright white and picking up one of the egg sacks which then "face hugs" her, and then the door shots. While the ending was surreal, it didn't really make sense because I figured she was doing it as either: a way to become altered like and able to be with her family or a form of suicide. The thing is she seems genuinely shocked, so I don't really know what her intentions were. Overall, it was an entertaining movie with good effects and ideas. I don't really think it deserves the amount of negative criticism is has garnered.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on May 12, 2015 1:47:01 GMT -5
I watched Gary Sherman's 1981 horror film Dead and Buried , featuring Robert Englund. It is about a sheriff in a small New England town who begins investigating a streak of murders and finds more than he bargains for. The acting is ok-good, the cinematography is great (something which greatly surprised me, due to the fact that I was expecting a low budget 80's slasher and therefore the awful night cinematography that comes along with it ,but to my surprise the night scenes in this film were well shot), the soundtrack is good-great (a mixture of more traditional horror strings and a jazz song), the gore is awful (one scene where a man gets his face burned and it looks laughably bad) and good-great in every other instance of its occurrence (not only in terms of blood ,but more solid appendages such as arms, hands, and skulls), and the acts of violence look ok-good. As I mentioned earlier I was expecting a low budget slasher and indeed this film was a Video Nasty (although it was taken off the list later on), but it functions as an interesting blend of spousal drama, supernatural, science fiction, and police investigation. One of the things I enjoyed about the film was that the main character is smarter than most horror protagonists and actually tries to proceed in a logical fashion. For example he tries to get his wife to confirm who he believes a suspect to be, he has skin samples sent to a lab to try and find out who he accidentally hit (the victim in question actually attacks him with his own fallen off arm), and he has info ran on the person who begins to become his most likely suspect. He's more doomed from the start due to having everything against him (similar to noirs) than his own foolishness or stupidity. Usually in films where law enforcement features as on of the main characters they generally have a conflict with someone else in a position of power such as higher ups, influential bussisness, or city personell ,but in this film the main conflict is between the sheriff and the coroner/mortician. Although it turns out this isn't without the reason as the mortician is actually the one pulling the strings the whole time. Now at first I thought the film would be about a local cult comitting the murders ,but was unsure whether it would be based in reality or involve the supernatural and as the film progressed I began to lean towards the latter. However, I was wrong in both assumptions because it turns out they're not a cult and what appears to be supernatural is actually a product of science lead by the mortician who has found a way to reanimate and repair the dead. I have always liked depictions of miraculous repair in fictional stories and in this film there is a a cool scene where the mortician takes a blunt force trauma victim and slowly, layer by layer, rejuvenates her skeletal structure, musculature, and finally skin. Overall this was a surprisingly good movie ,but not a great one.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Jul 8, 2015 3:07:29 GMT -5
I watched Mario Bianchi's 1982 Italain horror movie Satan's Baby Doll about a girl who is possessed by her deceased mom. The acting ranged from awful-good (mostly bad or ok though), the cinematograhpy was great (both interiro and exterior, there are cool shots of the castle from both outside and inside it; that's something cool about European horror films that you don't really have for U.S. ones,just all this old architecture in the modern day), the soundtrack was great (reminding me of Fulci's City of the Living Dead, a mix of synth, synth-rock with heavy use of shredding guitar riffs, and Ennico Morriconeesque choir chants), the gore was ok-great, and the acts of violence looked awful. Like alot of Italian horror movies there isn't much logic in the story and there really isn't a protagonist in this film. You don't really spend too much time with any of the characters and they're also all unlikable. An aspect of the movie I liked was the dad who is a complete asshole, he is just a regular looking guy who has an intimidating presence, and there is a theme that he thinks he is above things because of his class status (he does own a castle after all). Something that I thought was funny was that the mom in the movie seems to have had sex with every character in this movie except for her daughter and as a result has caused a significant amount of interpersonal damage between all the characters. I thought the ending was dumb and didn't make any sense though, you just have the posessed daughter staring and then a red filter goes over her. It felt really abrupt. I did a little research and apparently the version of the film I saw was the clean version, which says somethning considering all the gratuitious sexual scenes in the film. Overall, while I would say this isn't a good movie, like most Italian horror movies it still manages to be somewhat entertaining due to non-story elemsnts such as cinematography and soundtrack. Also, this film has a great poster.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Jul 8, 2015 3:28:53 GMT -5
I watched Juan Piquer Simon's 1982 American-Spanish Slasher Pieces about a college who becomes the site of a serial killer that turns his victims into pieces. The acting in this movie ranged from ok -good (but was mostly on the beter side of ok), the soundtrack in this movie was both electic and great (a mix of happy go lucky sounding folk rock, shredding 80's hair metal, snyth, a 70's sounding love folk song, traditional marching music, disco, sexy saxophone jazz, and blues rock), the gore in this movie was great (just incredibly masterful all around just like in another film by the director that I saw (Slugs), the acts of violence looked ok-good, and the cinematography was great (what really surprised me though was how the interior dark shots were actually done well and avoided the pitfall's of bad 80's slasher cinematography. One of the things that made this movie so endearing was its comedy (which appeared to be both intentional and unintentional. For example, there is a scene near the beginning with a girl skateboarding and then running into a mirror being unloaded by two deliverymen, what did this thave to do with the film's plot? Nothing, it was just a completely random event which I thought made it all the more hilarious. You also have a scene which seems like something directly lifted out of South Park where after another muder occurs, the female protagonist yells bastard three times, while progressively getting lounder (done in a quite hokey manner). I also thought the film's eclectic soundtrack added to the humor, similar to Madman's. The film also had good pacing, opening with two incredibly sudden gory kills and keeps up the pace throughout. Also for whatever reason the main character (who is a college student) essentially becomes a police officer investiagting the crime. The film also set up multipe red herrings and one of the red herrings was the gardener. Who is a big burly balding bearded man, which require being held up at gunpoint to end a fight with him. The ending was also hilarious as a corpse being assembled from the peices falls and castorates the protagonist at the end, with no real explanation. While this movie definitely wasn't a masterpieces, it wasn't awful and in terms of fun I'd say this movie was great. It started off immediatley having me into it and this kept up until the movie ended. I reccomend this film purely in terms of fun.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Nov 2, 2016 5:38:15 GMT -5
I watched Rick Roessler's 1987 slasher comedy Slaugtherhouse, about a butcher and his boy who's slaugtherhouse is being shut down. The acting was bad-good (mostly ok-good though), the soundtrack was great (80's hard and pop rock, horror synth, synth pop, jazz, and country), the gore was good-great, the cinematography was good-great, and the acts of violence looked ok-good. This film was sort of meta, in the sense that the main characters are filming a horror movie at the titular slaugtherhouse (I believe at one point they also say that it's their movie title as well), some of the comedy elements seemd (at least to me) a reference to Motel Hell with one of the antagonists arguing with the people trying to buy him out that they're despicable for selling meat with 30% fat and that he's killing the people by clogging their arteries, and that the main villian Buddy is clearly modelled after Leatherface. Speaking of Buddy, what I liked about him was that similar to Gunnar Hanson as Leatherface he's a big burly country boy who while obviously strong isn't necessarily cut or defined in a muscular way, making both characters more believable and intimidating in their roles. At the same time though this movie is a horror comedy and as a result Buddy is also the source of comedy for most of the movie with him only communicating through pig grunts, snorts, and squeals, and there's a running gag throughout the film with him killing the wrong people (his dad wants him to kill the sheriff, his lawyer, and ex employee who are all trying to shut his business down) and then his dad telling him not to kill the people who haven't done them wrong (which leads to the high body count by the end of the film) and there's a hilarious scene where he's wearing the undersized, torn unifrom of the sheriff's deputy he's killed (sunglasses included) driving through the countryside like a maniac while country rock is playing. I also liked Buddy's weapon of choice, a giant meat cleaver with a rather large handle, which I found to be pretty unique as a weapon. The sound effects of the victim being slowly crunched in the meat grinder were great and in general I liked the variety in kills (different weapons were used and also it wasn't always neck or body cuts, there was also an arm being cleaved off). Before the aformentioned arm cleaving, the prelude to it was rather well done (a great interior industrial shot with lot's of darkness) and I liked that they found excuses that allowed you to actually see at night in the film (for example the moon being out and there being windows for it to flood with light) as opposed to that terrible 80's see nothing darkness or the obviously fake blue night tint. This film is partially a comedy, so it's sort of excused, but the protagonists in this film have terrible survival instincts: going into a slaughterhouse at night, during a blackout, not running down Buddy even though you're in a car, and not checking the back seat to make sure no one is in the car with you (something I learned while watching Urban Legends as a child). However, I did like that that one of the protagonists is smart enough to use the car as a weapon when they have the chance, contrasting the earlier victim. I also enjoyed the opening butcher montage during the opening credits accompanied by jazz and the party montage before the town loses power. This is a film I've been wanting to see for awhile since being intrigued by the poster and I"m glad tha I finally got around to it. Overall this was both a good and entertaining 80's horror film.
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