Blob, Then and Now

I watched the two films, 1958 and 1988.

There are a lot of similarities. A strange thing lands in the bush, is found by crazy old guy, gets his hand engulfed. At the hospital, the blob moves on to others. The police are brought in and are relatively competent, but the blob still gets out. It takes out a movie theatre and seems to die in fire... but no! Instead, it dies in cold. The day is saved!

The 1958 version is very 1950s sci fi. Young guys in cars, dames hanging on their arms, the blob is basically a pink goo that engulfs, but otherwise doesn't get too gory, the police/army win at the end.

The 1988 version cranks up the gore a lot, in so much as taking out the leading man! We see half-melted people inside the goo, it's far more active in taking people out. And we get that the blob is because of scientists from earth instead of something from beyond the stars.

Very much movies of their time. Clearly we missed one for 2018. Something that is devastating, that just rolls over the country, killing people... hmm... maybe not.

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Smale 2

Here's the secret: it's 100% Unreliable Narrator.

This is the one where people smile. No, not that one. The one where only the person infected can see the creature. No, not that one. This is the one where trauma is a creature. No, not that one. This is one of the other ones.

In this one, Skye is a poor little rich girl, who has fame and love, but also trauma. She's got a show coming up, but after an accident needs pain meds, and can only get them from someone who was previously infected and so gets infected herself with the Smile. And from that point on you basically can't trust anything you see. There are lots of moments where we see something silly and then immediately switch to them not being there (the scene where there are tons of people crawling towards her is just funny), but there are longer moments to... but since we know from the small moments we can't trust anything, why should we trust the longer moments? This is to give the audience a sense of hope, but the character in the movie never really has any, they just don't know it.

And you know what... that's not actually enjoyable to watch. That's just misery porn trying to hide out under a big audience twist. It's not actually enjoyable.

But I don't think that will stop the hundreds of sequels this film will yet have.

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A strang hous

Something a bit more modern, youtuber investigates weird house...

Only, not really. While there is an odd house, it's more about the family who lived there. And even then, it's more about where they went before and after that house. We get to a weird cult, and another strange house, but there's nothing supernatural here, just people being people.

I think the translation subtitles I had were a bit off. Aside from a few gaps, who was whoms mother/brother/sister got rather confused. I think I got it, and fortunately it's not like this was too convoluted.

I'm not sure who played who, but I liked the actor who was the architect. Good character acting there.

Had the potential for spookytimes, but they went with a story about family instead.

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Okkult

Back to Koji Shiraishi!

Several years ago, a group of women accidentally taped a stabbing on a bridge. The production crew led by Shiraishi speak to people that were there and find that one of them is hearing voices and has a strange mark on his body that the killer marked there. "Miracles" happen around him, and they follow him some more and uncover that he has a mission, one to bring people to god's dimension, just like the killer did.

Shiraishi has a tendancy to cast himself in these movies, as a director, and so presents it as a documentary style. This leads to the slow build I really like, and so I really like this. Revelations come slow, and the "miracles" get right creepy. And the final reveal is certainly built off what has gone before, but is rather full on for all that.

Definitely one of the better ones of his!

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Noriko no shokutaku

This is the sequel... I think I get it?

Noriko is frustrated with her life, so leaves, goes to Tokyo and becomes a member of a family for rent. Then her sister does similar. Their father ends up hiring them as a family... some are happy with that, some are not.

Where the previous movie was about the problem youth and them committing suicide, this one is pretty solidly about leaving behind life to find out about yourself. Through the rather extreme measure of becoming someone else, but you are out in the world, experiencing it through the eyes of someone who isn't you (while you are being you).

I looked up the previous movie, and got that then, but this is far more obvious. However, it's nearly three hours, and doesn't need to be obvious for that long. This does tie into the previous movie, and tries to reframe those events, but it easily stands alone.

This can speak to you, but I'm probably too old for it now.

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Jisatsu Sakuru

It's a movie with a rather troubling title, let's see if I can avoid it.

It starts with a group of girls throwing themselves in front of a train, and others also jump to their deaths elsewhere. The police are baffled, is this murder or not? At some locations are stitched together strips of skin, from their bodies. One internet sleuth thinks she is on to someone, but is captured by someone who claims to be the leader (but isn't really). It is slowly revealed that there is a lot of philosophy going on. "What is your connection to your wife? What is your connection to yourself? Does the connection remain even if you die?"

It's a really weird movie. I saw it years ago, and... it's still just as weird. The whole bowling alley scene (the chap who claims he is the leader) could easily be removed. What is really going on is... it's not supernatural or anything. It is sort of philosophy. There's also a singing troupe that seem to be involved, and at the end of the movie it just seems to be over and they move on?

Is there a "vibes" movie where you just experience something weird without knowing what the hell is going on?

Just imagine if there was a sequel to this. (There is!)

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Uncanny JuRei

Are you ready for some random spookums?

Each chapter, which is only a few minutes long, sees someone, usually a school girl, dying to some spirit of a friend. Which we then see said friend dyng to some other spirit as we go back in chapters and time as the movie goes on. Eventually we get to the original cause... which was some other random spirit killing someone.

This is very much in the Curse genre of "if you encounter something bad, it will spread to all around you." (And speaking of Curse, they start at a movie of Cursed Video, which is another movie of this director.)

This is just, as said, random spookums. Hear a strange noise? Maybe see a dark figure? Often then a white faced ghost gets in your face, and boom, you are dead, on to next chapter. Does a decent job of building up the atmosphere, but yes, it is very repetitive, and doesn't really build to anything of an explanation that isn't just "it continues".

Fine, but definitely seen better.

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Impoosible Defence

The other 2017 movie of note, a Japanese non-slasher flick!

People die in nasty ways, wasps, poison, stabbing... but there are no wasps, poison or stabbers! Instead, if you want someone to die, to contact a man who stares at the person and then they die. It's the power of suggestion, but Inspecter Tada is immune to his ability, but refuses to stoop to murder herself. But as killing abounds, can she stick to her principles or let more people die?

This movie sets out the killer straight away, and the method not that long after, so it becomes a test to see how quickly the police can act. Although it does get a little (unintentionally) silly when the killer just turns up and says "hey, I killed them" and nothing happens (because of a little thing called proof). And there is also ironic deaths that lead to more ironic deaths.

The main special effect is the red eye and then CGI style screen effects, otherwise there is decent action as the deaths play out and chasing is abound. This is based on the manga, which no doubt had a lot of easier time representing visual weirdness. I nearly want to check that out, but doubt I'll track it down.

Not terrible, but Inspector Tada just keeps letting the killer go too much.

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Dunedkirk

Finally got around to watching that Nolan war movie.

I'm gonna admit I couldn't tell various people apart. At best I got the Mole plot, the Boat plot and the Air plot, but if we saw different people during those plots, I wouldn't be able to point to whomst was whomst. But in the Mole plot (they make a point of calling it a Mole, so I will to), we got some soldiers just trying to survive and evacuate, and some do. On the Boat plot, we get some people trying to help soldiers, and some survive to do so. And in the Air plot, pilots try to stop the enemy fighters, and some do.

This is both a positive movie of "hey, some people survived!" but also realistic in "not everyone did". Much is made of the time side of things, but I didn't really feel it. Not that I would expect aircraft to be in the air for several nights (which we got in the mole plot), but there's plenty of continuity of action that makes it feel like it is all happening at once, and I have no innate sense of how far away or big Dunkirk is to think "they did that quick/slow/on time".

There are some actors I recognise, and plenty I would have no idea about short of browsing the IMDB page. Everyone does a fine performance, as far as I can see, but this does remind me of a twist I'd like to do to a war movie, that I've probably mentioned before. Gender-flip the actors. Not the characters, they stay as they are, but the actors. I'm sure that is meaningful of something.

I thought this was three hours before I saw it, and it was far more watchable that I was thinking. Finally ticked it off the "oh yeah, I guess I'll see it some time" list.

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Craved The Slit Mouthed Woman

Well, I guess they can't all be excellent pieces...

I'm sure I've heard of this Japanese urban legend before, but this one in particular is a disfigured woman turns up, asks "Am I pretty?" then I'm fairly sure whatever you answer you are in trouble. Although no-one gets around to answering her, she just turns up and then there is the encounter. Her basic method is to kidnap children, and I think disfigure them (the movie doesn't exactly focus on it), but what we also find out is that... she's actually a spirit that possesses women and transform them, and it's tied into mothers hurting their children is linked to her.

Oh yeah, this movie features a lot of mothers slapping children, so warning for that. (Nothing overly graphic, just her slit mouth is the worst we see, otherwise bruising etc on the kids.)

Anyway, one teacher is looking for a kidnapped kid because she hit her own daugher and the daugther wants nothing to do with her (yeah, there's problematic connections there). But there is also another teacher whose mother is the actual Slit-Mouthed Woman (or the original possessed woman), which has a whole slew of other problematic components.

This is fine... nothing too amazing happens plotwise. At around half way through the movie, the main protagonists suddenly go "oh, she lives there" and so go there. Super Easy, Barely An Inconvenience. Otherwise, there is a lot of standing around and... brown. This whole movie is saturated in brown. Maybe it was a bad copy I got, but it was just very blah to look at.

I've got others of his, so hopefully better to come. I just wish there was an easy way to watch all these J-horror movies I'm hearing about.

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Noroi

I don't care how elitist it might sound, J-Horror is so much better than other horror!

This is one of them found footage documentaries, only I like this one. Kobayashi is looking into a report of a strange neighbour and soon finds himself helping a local actress and a "super psychic", trying to find a child. He tracks back to a village now under water that used to perform a ritual that appeased a demon. Which they aren't doing any more. And it seems like that demon is rather pissed.

This is from back in 2001, so video tapes galore. And the effects aren't huge. But what we have is atmosphere, and that's what I love about J-Horror. Just atmosphere building up and dripping everywhere. This immediately grabbed me and although the above summary seems rather all over the place, this is well paced and keeps you engaged. I was reminded of Ju-on, where something supernatural is going on and it infects people nearby no matter what.

I'm not going to embarass myself by saying I know who the actors are, but the main leads work really well. I guess I now see to see other movies by the director Kôji Shiraishi.

Full thumbs up.

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Harvay

Jimmothy Stewart? Quite the draw for a movie.

Elwood P. Dowd is a pleasent chap, if a bit odd. He has a friend in Harvey, a six foot rabbit. Life is pleasent for him. Life is rather more unpleasent for others who have to deal with Elwood and Harvey. To the extent of having Elwood committed to a sanitarium... but Harvey is a mischevious sort and so there is lots of shenannigans and escapades and people rushing about and... and finding themselves having a charming time.

This movie annoyed me for quite a while, with everything going well for Elwood and not for others, that sort of thing is just irritating. However, once you get into the groove that the movie is trying for making life better for everyone, I calmed down and got into it.

This was a play, and I can see that. Aside from Harvey, it's just people talking about things, just missing others as they pop on and off stage, no special effects needed.

If you can jive with it, it'll work, but it might be work to work...

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The goF

Sure, why not more John Carpenter!

One hundred years after a ship went missing, it returns, hooray! It also brings fog, moving in strange ways, more hooray! Oh, and death for anyone that crosses its path... hooray? We have a small town where the ship returns, and we follow a handful of people who are important to the story (important, in that they are on screen), and a lot of people who manage to escape by being off screen. One is a radio dj, another is a random driver (I'm sure he does something important, but I missed it) and a hitchhiker he picks up that goes where he does. The mayor and her aide, and one priest to round out... One of them are vital to solving this problem, and the others just try to survive.

What a cast eh? Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Hal Halbrook... and John Houseman as someone I can't even remember seeing. The fog effect is straight forward, and the creature effects are decent (although we only get a tiny glimpse of them in close up).

The movie is a bit "supernatural just because" with no real explanation other than "so we can have a supernatural movie". This isn't terrible, but makes it hard to follow the story logically when the why is just "because that's what I wrote in the script."

Still, a cracker of a movie, check it out!

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X-Ray Man

Roger Corman just went for any ole script... but hey, it works.

Dr Xavier makes compound X, because names are hard, and it slowly gives him X-Ray powers! Being a doctor, that's really handy, until he accidentally kills someone (haven't we all), then the second half of the movie begins where Xavier tries to live in society, first as a wouldbe psychic, then healer, then gambler. It doesn't go well, but at least there's religion to give an answer.

This is almost Lovecraftian in that he begins to see beyond our normal sight into something far beyond what we are prepared for. The movie also nearly deals with the kinds of problems you would have if you have permanent x-ray vision, but I'm fairly sure he would have a lot more trouble just interacting with normal every day objects when you can see right through them.

Decent performances all around. No-one is going overboard, even Ray Milland keeps his doctor on the sedated side when mad cacophony was possible. And Roger Corman clearly knew who to talk to for the naked dancing scene, you naughty man!

Quite recommend!

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Wild Wobot

I'm just wild about robots...

Oh good, this movie allows me to bitch about something: animals cannot talk to each other! There is not one common tongue that all animals speak that once you decode how to talk with moose, you can then talk to squirrels or foxes, and have them all talk to each other too! It doesn't work like that!

Anyway, this robot lands on some out of the way place and tries to be a robot in a place of animals, when none of them have technological needs. After learning the language, the robot then accidentally commits near genocide and takes on the role of helping a young gosling grow up, with the aid of a fox. You know, as one does. However, where there is robot, there is evil corporation and, I'm sure many people have compared this film to Wall-E, and I'm right there with them.

Lupita Nyong'o has the main voice work, but I can't say I recognise her in this. Pedro Pascal is more notable. And there are a host of other voices to pick out: Bill Nighy, Matt Berry, Mark Hamill... 

It's all fine, but I can't say there's anything special here.

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Cat Song

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American London in Werewolf

This is one of them classics! (I haven't seen it before although some of it was familiar... huh.)

David and Jack are in the English countryside and encounter one of the scariest things of all... an unfriendly English pub! And a werewolf, but those things happen. David wakes up, Jack (who is dead) tells him he is a werewolf. David tells everyone he is a werewolf. And yet... no-one believes him! What is the world coming to? It takes two nights for people to finally accept there is a problem (and hey, some of those deaths on the second night is because of bad English driving, you can't blame that all on David!), and then twas beauty (and several guns) that killed the beast.

At one hour, we finally get the moment we all came for, the transformation... and it's worth the hype. That looks extremely well done, and very painful (as one would expect). I don't know how much of that was due to Frank Oz, but clearly there was talent involved in (and we even get a Muppet Show cameo... to the extent of they get credits!). [It was Rick Baker, of course.]

Fine performances all around. Some names I recognise now, and clearly the actors are having a lot of fun. (Oh, that is Rik Mayall!) 

Definitely an enjoyable treat.

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