Shocktober part 1

October is the Halloween month. The nature is going through it’s gothic phaze, the nights become colder, darker, longer and spookier, and it’s the perfect time to have Shocktober-fest. Shocktober is our “movie festival” we have every October, which means watching nothing but the horror/weird/freaky movies every night of the month. This way, by the end of the month, you are perfectly prepared for Halloween.

Since the beginning of October, we have watched quite a handful of movies. I thought it would be fun to make a list of the ones we’ve watched so far, so here you go (in more or less chronological order):

We started out with -

Army of Darkness (1992)

Directed by Sam Raimi

I’ve seen this movie before but not all of it. I always liked Evil Dead 1 and 2, and this one is also very entertaining and funny, I enjoyed it a lot, but there’s nothing scary about it whatsoever, it’s more of a fantasy than a horror movie.

Bad Blood / Coisa Ruim (2006)

Directed by Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra

This is a Portuguese exorcism/cursed house movie. The atmosphere of the movie is good, you get to see the grim places in Portugal, but the story unfolds a bit slow, and the “grand finale” is too short and a little confusing.

Season of the Witch / Hungry Wives (1972)

Directed by George A. Romero

This is one of the first movies of George Romero, it’s about a suburban housewife who gets interested in witchcraft and slowly goes crazy. It’s more of a suspense movie than a horror. It has a great 70’s atmosphere, so it is quite interesting to watch, not so much for getting scared though. In the 70s this movie was probably considered scary, but today it wouldn’t, because our minds are too accustomed to horrific and truly scary images and stories.

The Eye (2008 US version)

Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud

They did a good job but I liked the original, Gin gwai, much more. The American versions of The Ring and The Grudge are far superior to this movie.

At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul / À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (1964)

Directed by José Mojica Marins a.k.a Coffin Joe

This Brazilian movie is pretty awesome and very entertaining. Coffin Joe plays an evil gravedigger who doesn’t believe in any supernatural powers, pisses people off and kills them if they get in his way.

Crazy Eights (2006)

Directed by James K. Jones

Total crap. A movie about a bunch of friends who share a trauma from the past, being brought up in an asylum where they were experimented on. They come back to the place and die one after another. The storyline is pretty dull, not much going on throughout the movie, not so many good effects, and the movie leaves you with a thought - what the hell did i just watch and why did i choose this movie?

Spirits of the Dead / Histoires extraordinaires (1968)

Directed by Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim

These are 3 short movies based on Edgar Allan Poe’s stories: “Metzengerstein”, “Toby Dammit” and “William Wilson”. It’s a must-see classic.

Silk (2006)

Directed by Chao-Bin Su

A very interesting Asian ghost movie, really good storyline and great effects. It’s both horror and sci-fi, which makes it more original than many Asian ghost story movies.

The Wizard of Gore(2007)

Directed by Jeremy Kasten

This remake of the 1970’s movie is pretty confusing and hard to follow. After watching it, we were trying to figure out what exactly was going on in the movie, but eventually gave up. It’s always good to have some mystery in a movie, but this one has too much of it. Although i haven’t seen it, i am sure that the original movie by Herschell Gordon Lewis is much better.

The Holy Mountain(1973)

Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky

The Holy Mountain is one of the most artistic and awesome movies I have ever seen. This was the first movie of Alejandro Jodorowsky i’ve seen, and i am planning to watch more now. Every single set in the movie is a perfect work of art. The movie has lots of symbolism and occult connotations. A must-see for everyone (although it’s not a horror movie).

O Ritual dos Sádicos / Awakening of the Beast(1970)

Directed by José Mojica Marins, a.k.a. Coffin Joe

Really weird movie by Coffin Joe, has strange sex and drug-taking scenes.

Mother of tears / La Terza madre(2007)

Directed by Dario Argento

It was not bad, but i like Dario Argento’s old movies more. Some parts of the movie were pretty funny. Also, the soundtrack in the end is pretty ridiculous. One of the best things about the old Argento movies is that the soundtracks were written and performed by the spooky Italian progressive rock band, Goblin, thus making the movies very special.

30 Days of Night (2007)

Directed by David Slade

This movie is an unusual vampire flick, set in an obscure town in Alaska ( actually filmed in New Zealand ). It has a really spooky atmosphere, great cinematography, pretty decent film score and lots of good gore. The vampires in the film are not the elegant sophisticated types, but rather savage and vicious killers who speak some weird unknown language.

Black Sabbath / I Tre Volti della Paura (1963)

Directed by Mario Bava and Salvatore Billitteri

This movie has 3 different short stories: “The Telephone” - more of a suspense story, “The Wurdalak” - a vampire story featuring Boris Karloff and “A Drop of Water” - a creepy ghost story with a scary looking dead granny- the best one in my opinion. This is the movie, which the band Black Sabbath took their name from. It was pretty amusing to imagine Ozzy shivering with fear on the chair in the movie theater, pleading to go home and Tony Iommi trying to calm him down.

To be continued….