The Glade 4.0

So I've started getting my scary movies for Halloween Season (yeah it gets it's own).

So far I've seen (no spoilers):

The Frighteners
Movie about a psychic investigator/conman who sees ghosts. Not scary, but more funny along the lines of Ghostbusters. Highly recommend it.

Jennifer's Body
Movie about a girl possessed by demons (Meghan Fox vehicle). Awful, awful, awful. Very campy, poor dialogue, bad actors/actresses. More or less a social commentary on females in high school than an actual horror movie. Would not recommend even if M. Fox is hot.

Trick 'r Treat
Interesting movie. Ties together several scary stories. Production value is on par with a made for TV movie, no big name actors or actresses but several C List celebs make appearances. I would rate it neutral as one of the stories was moderately creepy.

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Not to derail too horribly, but how do you manage your scary viewing experience? I feel like scary movies, more importantly than almost any other genre, depend heavily on your viewing environment. I've seen a film in the theater, where it's dark, cold, and the sound is blaring, and it was terrifying. Then I've seen it again at the house with friends, people talking, distraction, and it wasn't scary at all.

Personally, I find the best experience is after nightfall, turn the lights and phone ringers off, and turn the sound UP.

Some good scary movies to check out:

(I'm putting at little info as possible to avoid spoilers and because personally, I prefer to enter movies as cold as possible)

Event Horizon - sci-fi horror, ship on a new warp test jump disappears, reappears years later and a team is sent to check it out.

In the Mouth of Madness - horror writer disappears, insurance investigator is sent to check it out.

The Descent (2006) - Six girlfriends go thrill seeking cave climbing underground.

Behind the Mask (The story of Leslie Vernon) - One of my new indie favorites. A documentary crew follows around Leslie Vernon, a man who is getting ready to start his mass murdering career in the footsteps of other famous killers like Jason Vorhees and Michael Meyers.

The Mist - Stephen King's horror books don't make good movies, generally, but I think this one came the closest. It differs from the original short story, but the tone of the original was dead on.

Wolf Creek - Two british tourists and their australian friend explore the Australian Outback. Excellent, beautiful cinematography in the outback.

Dog Soldiers - Trained Soldiers are attacked by werewolves. Excellent werewolf film, and a good twist on the "chase helpless teens through the woods" standard.

Shrooms - A bunch of teenagers go to the woods for a shrooms trip. Things don't go as planned. Very cool atmosphere and mind twisting.

Ginger Snaps - Two sisters are best friends, one is attacked by a wild animal. (The sequel is also pretty good, but I really disliked the third, a prequel called "Ginger Snaps: The Beginning")

Drag me to Hell - Guilty pleasure movie. Lots of standard horror fare, with some really good moments.

I was just going to post the movies I saw this year, but if you're going there I highly recommend Death of a Ghost Hunter. Low-budget but super creepy. Made me and my ex jump.

As far as managing the experience I watch them alone at night, in a dark house. It helps that my attic was full of creepy devil dolls (think I posted that story before?). Beyond that I don't require too much.

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Sorry, thought it was for recommendations, I need some other recommendations for this halloween season.

I'll definitely check out Ghost Hunter.

It is for recommendations definitely.

I've got about 28 scary movies coming from NetFlix in the next two months so I figured I'd do a brief write up of each in case anyone wanted to check them out. I just wasn't going to reach back to review other scary movies I've seen

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Do it, do it! Maybe you've seen some good ones!

Strangers

The only good way to watch a horror movie is by yourself in the dark, or with a girl in the dark.

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Ron Paul 2012

Midnight Meat Train
Starts out slow and builds... oddly. Ending totally worth it. *Update* The Director seems to get lost at one point and rushes through incorporating the female lead into the action.

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I have seen this on Fear.net and passed on it. I may just check it out now.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

I always liked Pumpkinhead. Lance Henriksen is always kick-ass in anything he does and I enjoy a good supernatural horror movie with a little bit of a lesson in it. It has it all.

And I always thought Pet Semetary was one of the more spookier movies adapted from a King novel. But, it also helps that I own a British Shorthair (the breed of cat used in the movie).


Oh, and, good choice on In the Mouth of Madness. My absolute favorite (but now out of production) marinara sauce was made by Sutter Home (the same folks that make wine... and they used it in their sauces). So I was always saying to my room mate, "You like Sutter Home?!?!" In the same way the axe-wielding crazy guy asked "You like Sutter Cane?!?!"

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I knew I liked you for a reason! Most people look at me like I made this movie up.

The Burrowers
Well directed, special effects were OK, the ending was pretty meh but there were some freaky moments. Overall, wouldn't strongly recommend it but decent.

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Lo
Classified as horror but really its a love story. If you like art-house type movies you might enjoy it. Not exactly thrilling, scary or insightful but an interesting concept driven wholly by dialogue.

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I <3 In the Mouth of Madness SO. MUCH. Such an underrated film.

Oh, and I could not even finish The Burrowers. Terrible script, terrible execution, and the single worst acting performance I've ever seen. Pass, pass, pass.

So you're saying it was truly horrifying?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I actually liked Jennifer's Body. Of course, I watched it on B-movie night along with Black Dynamite and something else. It was either ***** Slap! or Shoot 'em Up.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Shoot em up was enjoyable

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Brotherhood of the Wolf
Not a horror film to my mind but Netflix says so. French film, beautiful cinematography with good atmosphere, drags in parts. Scary, no, but a decent film nonetheless.

Carriers
Post-apocalyptic film about survivors of a plague. Scary, no. Intense personal drama that reminds me of tales of how people actually survived the black plague.

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I'm told that the next time I go over to my buddy's for B-movie night, we're gonna watch all the Critters movies.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Seriously, Mookhow needs to add a "Like" button to posts

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That's a commitment right there. If you stop posting in the near future, we'll all know what happened.

Last time we did B-movie night, it was Shaft (2000), Shaft In Africa, (granted, not exactly B-movies) and Super Mario Brothers.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

One of these things is not like the others...

Yes, one of them does not have Richard Roundtree.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.