Monster Movies: Reccomendations and discussion

[mst3krom]

Well, I finally gave in and saw Cloverfield and my first question after it ended was: ... so what's the appeal?

Basically I thought the idea of shooting the entire movie from a character's perspective was not that great. The camera jerking got too dizzying in some places and I could barely tell what was going on.

Didn't care about the characters, not by a long shot. Standard cannon fodder victims, as far as I'm concern.

As for the main attraction, the monster, well, let's just say that I wasn't that impressed to go to IMDB and pump out the already overflowing 10 votes. For an "original, american" monster, it pretty much stinks. I wasn't impressed with the little spiders, either.

Sorry, Cloverfield fans but this one flat out sucks for me. King Kong ('33, 2005 and even '76 version), Godzilla (japanese and american), Beast from 20000 Fathoms, hell, even the MST3K Gamera movies in some parts are more entertaining and better than this. You can criticize me all you like, but I hold no love for your over hyped flick .

[MonsterX]

The more I learned about Cloverfield the less excited I became. I ended up seeing Diary of the Dead instead. (Which is an awesome movie by the way.) I’ll probably rent it when it comes out on netflix, maybe if I keep my expectations low I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

[Torgo]

Lucky bastard. I wish I could go see Diary, but it didn't play here in Idaho.

[Chuck]

I've been picking up the Paul Naschy films -- Spanish horror from the 60s and 70s. They're terrific. Start with Horror Rises From The Tomb, and you'll be exploring this guy's catalog. His werewolf is wonderful -- he does Satan, a vampire, etc. etc. (in different films, of course) but his talent is far more interesting than what we got: Vincent Price.

Now grant it, I love Vinnie. I have sooo much of him. But seeing what Europe had and we were missing, or only getting in chopped, badly dubbed prints, and I'm jealous.

[glow=red,2,300]

Viva Paul Naschy!!!

[/glow]

[xmattxyzx]

How does "Diary" stack up against "Land"?

[Bix Dugan]

I've been reading the reviews on a site called "Brains on Film".
Some of the most vile, disgusting explotation movies ever made are reviewed, with pics!
Some monsters, but mostly people as monsters.

I'd like to find the one about Ed Wood sometime...

[mccloud]

monsterx said:

The more I learned about Cloverfield the less excited I became. I ended up seeing Diary of the Dead instead. (Which is an awesome movie by the way.) I’ll probably rent it when it comes out on netflix, maybe if I keep my expectations low I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

That's why I read no reviews or teasers or anything before seeing Cloverfield. The only thing I saw was the movie poster. Therefore, I wasn't disappointed, probably because I ignored the hype and spoilers, and had low expectations. It was a decent monster-eating-Manhatten movie imho. ;D

Dairy of the Dead is still playing here, and it looks like I'm going to have to go see it alone. I can't find anyone who wants to see it.

My favorite movie monsters are zombies and Godzilla, and it sounds like you've seen all the good ones.

[Bix Dugan]

Anyone ever see "Ticks" aka "Infested"?

Looks very, very bad. With some known actors, like Clint Howard.

[Joseph Javorsky]

xmattxyzx said:

How does "Diary" stack up against "Land"?

I personally thought Diary was pretty weak and easily the worst of Romero's dead films. I would have just preferred GAR not change the recipe and didn't care for the hand held camera style

[MonsterX]

jozefjaorsky said:

xmattxyzx said:

How does "Diary" stack up against "Land"?

I personally thought Diary was pretty weak and easily the worst of Romero's dead films. I would have just preferred GAR not change the recipe and didn't care for the hand held camera style

I thought it was much better than LOTD, and maybe even better than Day. It had a few groan inducing moments, but for the most part I thought it was great.

[mst3krom]

Finally done with the Gamera episodes and I have to say, though the episodes themselves are great, the movies are annoying incompetent disasters. However this last set of reviews left me wanting a little more kaiju action. Once I'm done with the Godzilla vs. Megalon review, I'll be checking out a few of the more decent Godzilla movies. Of course, I'll be reseeing the original and, along that, I have my eye on Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla 1985, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs Destoroyah, Godzilla: Final Wars.

So what I want to know is how does the new Gamera trilogy fare? Is it at least worth a look?

[MonsterX]

The new Gamera trilogy is all kinds of awesome. I think the third film in the series depicts a giant monster attack on a city better than any movie that’s come before it. It’s worth renting at the very least.

I just saw an 80’s monster movie called “Death Machine”. I figured it would be some cheesy fun but it turned out to be a really cook flick. My wife even liked it, which if you know her is saying a lot. I highly recommend it.

[siamesesin]

mccloud said:

Dairy of the Dead is still playing here, and it looks like I'm going to have to go see it alone. I can't find anyone who wants to see it.

AKA The Return Of Uncle Jim

[Joseph Javorsky]

monsterx said:

jozefjaorsky said:

I personally thought Diary was pretty weak and easily the worst of Romero's dead films. I would have just preferred GAR not change the recipe and didn't care for the hand held camera style

I thought it was much better than LOTD, and maybe even better than Day. It had a few groan inducing moments, but for the most part I thought it was great.

my problem was the camera work and the acting was too much like an indie film and not up to Romero's usual quality, I'm a Romero disciple and the first 4 dead films are the gospel to me, I even work in the mall Dawn of the Dead was filmed in, maybe I need to give Diary another chance and take it on its own and not compare it to the other 4

[Torgo]

mst3krom said:

So what I want to know is how does the new Gamera trilogy fare? Is it at least worth a look?

First is decent, second sucks, third rocks.

That's my humble opinion anyway.