Recommend me stuff on Shudder.com horror channel

[T & P]

By the way, is anybody still subscribed or am I just talking to myself at this point?

We are, but seem to have long exhausted everything we wanted to watch or which sounded good. Keep checking for recent additions but not much movement there.

Will watch Host and Scare Me a second time before we unsubscribe, though. Really enjoyed those.

 

[Knotted]

Well I watched the first episode of Beyond the Walls, and I can say that it's a well made series but it doesn't seem to be a haunted house thing., though it may turn out to be that It's a story about a labyrinth that exists beyond a wall. Certainly promising.

Talking of haunted house horror, I watched the Shudder original Witch in the Window last night and I really liked it despite what I said up thread about haunted house films. It has got a very different feel to most horror films in that it is at heart a subdued family drama centring around an estranged father/husband and his son renovating a house. I like this sort of slow burn minimalist approach, when a film is trying to scare you all the time I just end up clocking all the techniques the makers are applying, but here the spookiness feels natural and frankly I was terrified when the witch finally appeared. The dialogue and the acting are pretty ropey but it's a well told story with a satisfying, poignant ending. I suspect this one won't be for everyone because at the end of the day it's a not very well executed drama but I found the genre hopping really effective.

Along with Horror Noire it's the best Shudder original that I have found. I'd put it a notch above Host and Revenge, but I suspect I am in a minority on that one.

 

[Reno]

I saw The Witch in the Window but I can’t remember a thing about it. There were several low budget horror films in the last couple of years, of men renovating haunted houses and they all are a blur

 

[Knotted]

It's a very clichéd set up but the tone is deliberately non horror until the witch shows up and even then it's minimal. This is the terrifying scene in it:

Spoiler

So probably not very memorable.

I feel very foolish but that did indeed get me. Context and build up etc.

 

[D'wards]

I saw a trailer on Instagram for a Shudder horror compendium film which I think was called The Mortuary Files.

It looked brilliant but then I do love a good horror compendium

 

[Reno]

I saw a trailer on Instagram for a Shudder horror compendium film which I think was called The Mortuary Files.

It looked brilliant but then I do love a good horror compendium

I enjoyed that.

 

[D'wards]

I enjoyed that.

Might do the free trial and have a look around the place

 

[Reno]

...if it's The Mortuary Collection, but I think that's the one you mean.

 

[D'wards]

...if it's The Mortuary Collection, but I think that's the one you mean.

Ya thats it

 

[Knotted]

Watched the Shudder original We Go On last night which is written and directed by Andy Mitton who also did The Witch in the Window. I thought it was an ingenious original take on ghosts and hauntings where jump scares are abundant but explicitly inconsequential and where there's nevertheless a pervasive dark brooding atmosphere and the protagonist is driven to the brink of insanity rather than placed in physical danger. Although it sounds meta it's not played as meta nor is it a comedy. It's a radically realistic take on hauntings. It's a cheap and somewhat ropey film and it's not a masterpiece or anything, but yeah I like what Andy Mitton is doing in both these films. Another marmite film I suppose.

 

[T & P]

We watched last night a new film just added, Anything for Jackson

We rather liked it. The main draw for me is the uncommon tone of the film. I don’t want to disclose too much about it but I will say this: the film can be described as ‘supernatural horror meets Fargo’. Which I hope is intriguing enough for you peeps to give it a try.

Believe me, the trailer doesn’t convey the spirit of the film at all. Yes there is horror and death, but also understated humour, and even tenderness, including from the main antagonists.

It’s not super great or anything, and the ending was somewhat underwhelming, but deffo worth checking out imo.

 

[T & P]

Another recommendation. We also rather enjoyed The Room. I thought it was going to be yet another couple-moves-into-house-and-discovers-secret-room-with-evil-lurking-inside.

But whereas there is indeed a room with a secret, it is not what we had expected at all. It is a clever premise and set-up, and even when the film entered its business end and I thought I had cleverly guessed what was going to happen in the climax, we were surprised once more. And yet again with the very ending.

A very satisfying film, far more original than the trailer or first third might suggest.

 

[Reno]

We watched last night a new film just added, Anything for Jackson

We rather liked it. The main draw for me is the uncommon tone of the film. I don’t want to disclose too much about it but I will say this: the film can be described as ‘supernatural horror meets Fargo’. Which I hope is intriguing enough for you peeps to give it a try.

Believe me, the trailer doesn’t convey the spirit of the film at all. Yes there is horror and death, but also understated humour, and even tenderness, including from the main antagonists.

It’s not super great or anything, and the ending was somewhat underwhelming, but deffo worth checking out imo.

Enjoyed that one.

 

[Knotted]

I've noticed Vivarium is on Shudder now. I haven't seen it yet but it's a 2020 film I want to see. It's the one with the green (literally) new housing estate. I might find time for it tonight.

Edit: 2019 film

Edit: OK watched it. It's not a subtle film but it's well worth it. Raises some uncomfortable ideas and very entertaining with it.

 

[Reno]

Well I watched the first episode of Beyond the Walls, and I can say that it's a well made series but it doesn't seem to be a haunted house thing., though it may turn out to be that It's a story about a labyrinth that exists beyond a wall. Certainly promising.

I watched all of this last night. The set up and premise are great. The idea that there is an entire world made up of windowless rooms hidden in a house is intriguing

Spoiler

and the visual of the theatre auditorium, where the stage set leads into a forrest is gorgeous. But then it doesn't seem to know where to go and the series tries to get us emotionally engaged with characters who are thinly drawn. It didn't get me to a place where I felt rooting for the love story it ultimately becomes. There was no connection between its two leads apart from that they are trapped. There was too little of the "Others", the Silent Hill-style monsters of this world. The series could have done so much more with them.

This is the rare example where I wished there was a longer US remake, which makes more of its premise of a labyrinthine alternate world made up of old rooms, where monsters lurk.

 

[Knotted]

I'll admit that I got bored with the second episode and I haven't watch the final one yet. I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind for it.

 

[T & P]

Before I tell you the title of this film I must stress that this is not a 3D film, as some peeps would have probably stopped reading if I’d started the post with the film’s name.

Found Footage 3D is a surprisingly decent found footage film. A budding filmmaker sets out to make the world’s first 3D found footage horror film, filmed in a forest cabin that is said to be haunted. Needless to say bad things start to happen, and this is in effect ‘a found footage within a found footage’ film.

There is a fair amount of sarcasm and dark humour as well as the usual paranormal shit you can expect from found footage flicks, which makes this film stand out a bit from the subgenre. Much of it coming from the filmmakers assistants, as they try and fail to explain to him the absurdity of any found footage film ever possibly having been filmed in 3-D in the first place. Very watchable

 

[Reno]

Before I tell you the title of this film I must stress that this is not a 3D film, as some peeps would have probably stopped reading if I’d started the post with the film’s name.

Found Footage 3D is a surprisingly decent found footage film. A budding filmmaker sets out to make the world’s first 3D found footage horror film, filmed in a forest cabin that is said to be haunted. Needless to say bad things start to happen, and this is in effect ‘a found footage within a found footage’ film.

There is a fair amount of sarcasm and dark humour as well as the usual paranormal shit you can expect from found footage flicks, which makes this film stand out a bit from the subgenre. Much of it coming from the filmmakers assistants, as they try and fail to explain to him the absurdity of any found footage film ever possibly having been filmed in 3-D in the first place. Very watchable

It was shot and released in 3D but Shudder doesn't show it that way as only a small minority of its audience would be able to watch it like that (and 3D telly is basically dead). Being a 3D nerd, I was holding out for a decent 3D release, but only a torrent of an anaglyph (with red/green glasses) 3D version made the rounds, which looks rubbish. There have been at least a couple of 3D found footage horror films before, Banshee Chapter and Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension.

 

[T & P]

Being a 3D nerd

I enjoy cheap and cheerful thrills and guilty pleasures as much as the next man so am certainly not one to judge, but seeing as you’re a dedicated film fan, I am surprised to hear you’re a 3D nerd.

I mean, outside of kiddies films, I thought 3D films were about as well regarded in the industry as McDonalds are at the Michelin Guide headquarters?

 

[T & P]

Better Watch Out is deliciously twisted, and even more satisfying, not at all what it seems. Both the premise and the trailer suggest a horror version of Home Alone but boy, is it fuck

Good Saturday evening horror-thriller stuff, and a very impressive performance from the young main lead.

 

[Reno]

I enjoy cheap and cheerful thrills and guilty pleasures as much as the next man so am certainly not one to judge, but seeing as you’re a dedicated film fan, I am surprised to hear you’re a 3D nerd.

I mean, outside of kiddies films, I thought 3D films were about as well regarded in the industry as McDonalds are at the Michelin Guide headquarters?

If 3D is good enough for Alfred Hitchcock, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfonso Cuarón and Wim Wenders, then it’s good enough for me.

I don't know what you mean with "kiddie films" or what industry you refer to. For the last decade, most Hollywood blockbusters and animation features were 3D releases. What makes you think an industry that has been embracing a technology, would look down on it ? At the height of the current wave of 3D films, there were 3D art house films, documentaries and many 3D horror films. Most of the older 3D films from the 50s onwards, got restored and released on Blu-ray. When they started to release 3D classics like Dial M for Murder, House of Wax and Creature From the Black Lagoon, that's when I upgraded my set up.

I enjoy watching films as closely as possible to the way they were meant to be exhibited. If a film was shot in b&w, then I won't watch it colorised, if a film was shot in Cinemascope, then I won't watch it cropped to 16:9 or 4:3, if a film was shot in a foreign language, then I won't watch it dubbed and if a film was meant to be seen in 3D, then ideally would like to watch it that way. I get that's not possible or a priority for many people but for me it is. I don't see that would be a guilty pleasure.

It's like a bit of an occasion, when I watch a 3D film on my projector, it really feels like bringing the cinema into my home.

 

[Knotted]

I've just watched Fingers. It's written and directed by Juan Ortiz, who I've never heard of before but it's good to know who he is because if a film is made by him it needs some sort special Juan Ortiz warning. The writing in terms of plot and dialogue is off the wall without being wacky or incoherent. Given how strange it is, it's not exactly badly made or difficult to follow. So I recommend it. Possibly makes some sort of comment about unconscious prejudices, self help cults and atonement. Possibly not. To be watched with a scrunched up face and "wh-what?" on your lips.

 

[T & P]

Shook. While it’s not great, it’s still a good, enjoyable psychological horror/ hint of thriller film.

Whatever you do, disregard the trailer completely, which gives the impression this is a gore-filled Saw ripoff. It is nothing of the sort.

I’ve been very unlucky with the last bunch of horror films I’ve tried- critically acclaimed all you like, but ultimately boring as fuck and too art house for my liking. It’s good to catch an enjoyable film that does what films of the genre are meant to do.

 

[Knotted]

Got round to watching La Llorona. I thought it dealt with the subject matter in a suitably serious way, more a (recent) historical drama than a supernatural horror, but that's there as well.

Recently watched Summer of '84. Which is another 80's nostalgia sort of thing which eventually subverts it's own tone but going really quite dark. But it's a good watch with relatable if stock teenage characters.

More recently I've watched Lucky. It's about a woman who has to fight a home invader to the death... every night. And everybody is like, "well these things happen, how are you feeling otherwise?". It's played very straight so absurdist not comedic. Obviously it's about women's fears not being taken seriously and that's barely a subtext. However unsubtle it is, it's well made with a good soundtrack.

All three of these are at least watchable and La Llorona is well recommended.

 

[Knotted]

Fried Barry is a weird South African film about a drug addict who gets possessed by an alien and wanders about Cape Town experience the drugs, sex and violence in a permanently bewildered state. It has some "holy cow, what's happening!" moments. Psychedelic and satirical and almost quite touching. I really liked it.

Teddy is a French coming of age drama/werewolf film that's on Shudder atm. Off beat character portrait of an angry teenager who gets bitten, but all that werewolf stuff is almost an aside/metaphor for burgeoning adulthood. It's got some real wince inducing moments that made me think of Raw but at heart it's a really convincing portrayal.

 

[Orang Utan]

have subscribed to this for a while yet still haven’t watched anything

 

[Reno]

V/H/S/94 the fourth film in the anthology franchise is now on Shudder and I think it's the most consistent one so far. Of the four segments I thought only the last one was weak. Timo Tjahjanto who made Safe Haven (V/H/S/2), the best episode in the franchise so far, returns to contribute the best segment here. It takes the mad scientist trope to new levels of crazy.

 

[Orang Utan]

I watched Speak No Evil at the weekend cos a friend told me not to watch it and that was a red rag to a bull for me.
I know why she said so as I now feel almost complicit in what I watched, like Heneke wanted you to in Funny Games, or like I did when I watched Man Bites Dog.
It’s a Danish horror about a family who befriend a charming Dutch family on holiday and make the mistake of accepting an invitation to visit them for the weekend at their home in the Dutch countryside. They’re initially hesitant, but accept out of politeness, and after encouragement from friends, one of who actually says ‘what could possibly go wrong?’
One of the most disturbing and excruciatingly compelling films I’ve seen in recent years. It all falls apart on closer reflection, but it doesn’t matter.
Don’t watch it though.

 

[Knotted]

I keep starting Mad God. It's absolutely astonishing and hideous and nihilistic. Stop Motion from Phil Tippett that's been decades in the making. I've yet to find the frame of mind where I can endure it (if that makes sense). Will talk about it when I finally watch it. But it's absolutely the thing to go to Shudder for atm.

 

[Knotted]

Btw Teddy is still on Shudder. Strong recommendation for that.