2022's Halloween haul

A couple comments, as I've seen or will eventually see a few of those.

Always good to see someone else who watches giallos here and there. Hell, last night, I finally got around to seeing Argento's Suspiria (aka: a movie that is a giallo or isn't quite one due to the supernatural element, depending on who is writing about it) and pretty much try to get to all I can without putting that much effort into it (ie: YouTube rips, a "less-than-legal" app I obtained on my Firestick, watching via Tubi or Plex or, if it comes to it, renting via YouTube or Prime). Seen Stagefright (more a pure slasher, but it is Italian and Michele Soavi did work with Argento on a lot of projects) and Strip Nude for Your Killer (any giallo with Edwige Fenich is a winner, as far as I'm concerned!!!). Still have to get to Black Belly of the Tarantula, but with the trio of Claudine Auger, Barbara Bach and Barbara Bouchet in it, I'm sure it will be vastly more than great. Ah, that's one thing I love about this genre -- it's the perfect chance to let out my inner sleaze!

Final Exam might not be a particularly good movie, but it has one scene of a frat prank to get out of exams that is just amazing. Amazing in how, in today's world, there's no way it would fly. Also, the frat dude "Wildman" totally seems to have been created due to someone involved with the film HATING big, dumb, bullying jock-types because he's portrayed as such an over-the-top idiot version of that sort.

While I didn't dislike Land of the Dead, it's hard for me not to notice that in going from the 60s and 70s to more modern times, Romero lost something in translation when it came to making a good zombie film. It was just a good couple steps behind any of the original trilogy.

I got into giallo films after buying a cheap, potentially unlicensed copy of Cat O' Nine Tails from a cheapo distributor called Diamond Entertainment when I worked on the local air force base. I also managed to snag their releases House by the Cemetery and Mutant (aka Night Shadows) at the same time for under $10 apiece. And this was in the early 2000s, when you'd be lucky to find any of those movies under $20 on DVD, if at all. Sadly, I missed my chance to grab The Beyond, which they titled The Seven Doors of Death. I'd have to settle for that overpriced $30 special edition version instead... Hey, at least that DVD helped me discover Necrophagia.

I only watched a giallo or two after that, but I ended up getting into a giallo kick a couple of years later. Back then, I bought just about the entire Argento and pre-'90s Fulci horror catalog, and only recently have I begun branching out further.

Final Exam is more of a nostalgia thing for me because it was one of the movies my parents taped off Showtime when I was a kid. I ended up watching it one summer and kinda liking it, though it was pretty much your run-of-the-mill slasher. I do remember Wildman being particularly annoying, though. I got a bit squeamish during his death at first because I thought for sure the movie was going to pull a Toxic Avenger and have the killer crush his head with the weights.

Land of the Dead has a handful of cool scenes, but a disjointed story. I only grabbed it for completion purposes. With this, I only need Survival of the Dead for the complete series. I haven't seen that one, but the trailer looks awful and I'm almost certain I won't enjoy it much (hell, I didn't even like Diary of the Dead). However, it'll bother me not having the full series. It's weird because I don't always feel obligated to be a completist with some franchises, like Hellraiser or The Howling. However, with others I just feel like I need to fill in the holes.

Hellraiser probably is as close to "gotta get them all" as I've been with horror. And that has just applied to the first eight of them. The first two are great, the third is decent with one weird decision (the two important characters who got the Cenobite treatment get one scene after transformation, while the lesser guys are seen regularly destroying the city), the fourth has the cool "twin security guards joined together" Cenobite but not much else, the fifth and sixth were pretty fun mind-screw films, the seventh was pretty weak and the eighth was notable for being an early role for Henry Cavill, but didn't offer much other than that.

The fifth and sixth saved the series from being pure diminishing returns after the first two, but I could see the way things were going and heard the ninth and 10th were pretty trash, so figured I'd cut bait after getting through the DVD set that had 3-8.