I came across this Top-Rated Horror Movies of the 1970s list on Rotten Tomatoes and I’m shocked at how few of them I’ve seen-- I haven’t even seen all the top 20. I might have to watch a whole lot of these.
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I’ve only seen 11 of the top 20 on that list. House is the one I would recommend most strongly, if anyone hasn’t seen it. I would recommend it outside the context of this list. I would recommend it in almost any context! It’s gotta be one of my favorite movies.
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Seconding House!! Such a great, wild time
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Just watched Thelma this weekend. It’s hard not to smile while watching such a charming movie.
→ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23778968/
It has a very simple premise: grandma gets scammed. However, come hell or high water, grandma goes off to get her money back. It’s a heart warming take on growing old, being confused by technology, and being absolutely stubborn.
There’s a special treat at the very end of the movie. I won’t spoil it.
Okay, I knew I wasn’t a big horror fan, but it turns out I haven’t seen a one of the top 100 on that list and haven’t even heard of most of them. Also, maybe it’s because I’m reading Dracula Daily, but I cringed at the blurb for the version of Dracula that made that list, specifically the Frankenstein character name Mina van Hellsing.
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Interesting. I’ve seen all their top 20 except Theater of Blood and… House. Which I’ve never even heard if til this thread, unless it has an alt name. I thought you were talking about the mid 80s House, and thought you were all nuts to be heralding that as an all-time great 
It’s sometimes called Hausu. It’s a Japanese movie. I had the glorious opportunity to see it at the IFC Center, years ago, on a big screen. First time viewing. Went into it blind. I didn’t know just how glorious it would be!
I had a similar experience bar-hopping one Halloween night about 25 years ago. I was with two friends as we passed a small theatre boasting about how this movie was banned in all the other provinces in Canada. Well, if that wasn’t praiseworthy, I don’t know what is. Little did we know that we were going to witness Peter Jackson’s magnum opus Dead Alive! (Also known as Braindead.)
It was gruesome, gory and so over the top. We had never seen anything like it! Lawnmower versus zombie horde. Baby zombie born from horny zombies doing it. It even had a boss monster at the end. Holy fuck!
It starts off slow and then it gains speed… and then it’s pedal to the metal… and then it crashes through the guard rail and gets fully air born… then it strikes the ground and bursts into flames as the driver crawls out on fire… only to then get struck by lightning while being bit by a cobra! Yeah, it’s that awesome.
And I still haven’t seen anything like it since. I can totally see why they let Jackson direct The Lord of The Rings movies after seeing this masterpiece.
For the uninitiated, this is your right of passage! Enjoy!
(Uncut Version) → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYsbFvcmmfI
(I watched for a few telltale scenes and I’m positive it’s the uncut version.)
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I remember watching this years ago. My memory of it was that the pacing was pretty off, in a way I’ve sometimes found with cult classic films. Like there’s the high points sure (“I kick arse for the Lord!”), but there’s much diddling about in between.
… what province did you see the film in? 
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I live in Alberta. We have no morals here so this movie was fine for our sensibilities. 
It’s a comedy horror so it’s trying to fit a story in, set up gags, and gross you out… all at the same time. The thing about cult classics is that there is a lot of forgiveness going on because when it’s good… it’s on another level.
My favourite line was from early on when the mother gets bit by the rat thing and declares “I’ve been savaged!”. Also, every time the nurse zombie’s head flips back and all you can hear is gurgling through her exposed windpipe. 
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I watched The Treasure, directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
It reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s advice that “every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” Despite very little happening, it constantly kept me wondering “what’s going to happen?”
The ending is interesting. Heavy spoilers: There’s an extended scene where one of the main characters is buying a ton of jewellery with his questionably-gotten gains in a way that appears to be pitiable (maybe to make things up to his wife, who was opposed to the scheme) but is soon revealed to be for a very different reason. I wasn’t expecting the actual ending, but it makes perfect sense in context, and it’s one of the best twists I’ve ever seen.
I’ve seen one other film by the director, Infinite Football, which is a documentary about a guy who wants to change the rules to football (ie. soccer). I was expecting something more eccentric … it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly memorable.
I also watched five short-ish documentaries by Gary Hustwit, all of which are about design in some way. I think the most notable are Helvetica, which is about the font, and Rams, which is about Dieter Rams, a designer at Braun who influenced Apple design.
One broad idea running through these documentaries is the balance between attracting attention and being non-obtrusive. For example, Helvetica, the font, is both loved and hated for these reasons. The film makes it clear that it’s almost everywhere. Some people think it’s neutral enough for a letter that says “I love you” or “I hate you” ; others think think that the font’s neutrality means it doesn’t convey emotion and tone appropriately.
Things gets more humanistic in the films about workplace and city design.
I have no formal design education but I do put effort into designing my work, and it’s all very interesting.
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Dieter Rams is one of my favourite thinkers. Thanks so much for the recommendation. Definitely gonna watch it soon! 
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I had never actually heard about him until I saw the film (Helvetica was actually what led me to these films). How did you hear about him?
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I’m a huge software UI buff that discovered him when researching good design practices, of all things. This is what he had to say about design in general…
Good design:
- Is innovative
- Makes a product useful
- Is aesthetic
- Makes a product understandable
- Is unobtrusive
- Is honest
- Is long-lasting
- Is thorough down to the last detail
- Is environmentally friendly
- Involves as little design as possible
Like I said, he is a deep thinker. I truly believe that these rules apply to everything that can be “designed”… even our crumby IF games.
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Interesting. Yeah, that list of principles is featured heavily and expanded on in the film … it’s another thing I was thinking about when I mentioned the balance between non-obtrusive vs attractive. I’ll have to look into his writing.
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I finally watched Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Very good movie, but very little to do with Virginia Woolf. I suspected that would be the case, but going into it blind, as a Virginia Woolf fan, I had my hopes up. Ah well!
Also watched Liar, Liar and The Immortal Story recently. Orson Welles might be my favorite director. I was on a Welles kick as research for a Fallen London story I wrote a while ago, and his movies just kept blowing me away. I’ll probably re-watch The Other Side of the Wind sometime soon. Might also watch Sonic the Hedgehog. Video-game adaptations don’t usually tempt me, but I’ve heard that Dr Robotnik is one of Jim Carrey’s best roles.
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This was out of place in Victor’s review thread, but maybe some of you here will recognize it-
Made me think of Cold Comfort Farm and how the lead keeps trying to call the sun extravagant euphemisms in her purple-prosey novel:
“It was winter. The grimmest hour of the darkest day of the year. The Golden Orb had almost disappeared behind the interlacing fingers of the hawthorn.”
In other news, over the last week or so I saw watched Rituals (1977, good campy fun), Bone Tomahawk (2015, technically near-perfect but in shockingly poor taste), and Lone Star (1996, one of my most enjoyable watches in recent memory and certainly one of my new fave westerns).
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You may know this, but the Mountain Goats have small collection of songs all titled Orange Ball of… (Orange Ball of Love is my favorite) – they came about because John Darnielle was reading a Don DeLillo novel (my guess is White Noise?) in which the sun was described as an orange ball like three different times over the course of 100 pages, which he thought was super lazy, so he (John) thought this would be an entertaining way of making fun of him (Don).
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That’s a really apt opinion of Bone Tomahawk. I was confused as to why it really didn’t do much for me, even though it was well executed at the same time… poor taste! Love it!
Edit: Thinking back, I believe it had really odd dialog as well.
Also, the only Lone Starr I recall seeing on the big screen was the fella driving this beauty…
image description:
A picture of a Winnebago with wings flying through space from the movie Spaceballs (1987).
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Both of the Sonic films were reasonably weary sit-throughs taking my nephew to cinema during school holidays. That said, one of the few things I remember about the first one was a (probably) improv by Jim Carrey after being offered a steamed latte. Like everything, it’s much better in the full context, but even context-less, it’s good: (13 second video)
I would like to be able to talk Orson Welles but I’ve only seen Citizen Kane.
-Wade
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