IT: Chapter Two

IT: Chapter Two came out last week, and I went to watch it. I wasn't expecting much becuase sequels usually fall short, and aren't as good as the first one. But for me, this isn't the case for IT. I really loved what they did with the sequel, and I honestly enjoyed the slowness of tying it all together. The casting of the older Losers was pretty much spot on. and I really liked how they interwove the past memories with what is happening in the present. I don't want to go much more into the movie, but it was pretty fantastic.



For those that have watched it, what are your thoughts? And which do you prefer, the original or the remake?

#It

2019 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Draft!

So to help compliment and promote my favorite draft of the year (maybe second only the the black & white), I am going to organize and run a Sci-Fy/Fantasy draft.

The rules are simple:
1. Reply /in to get in!
2. When it is your turn, select a Sci-Fy/Fantasy character
3. Each match select a line-up from your pool
4. Have fun!

Here's how it works:
1. Once all players have joined they will be put in a random order of pairs
2. Players will have a pool of 10 characters that they draft
3. Each rouch players will select 7 of their characters
4. Players must use all of their characters every 2 rounds
5. Bracket will be a standard double elimination bracket
6. Have fun!

Rules for voting:
1. Contests will be held one at a time
2. Votes will only be cast by contestants not in the current contest
3. Ties will be broken by a coint toss

Contestants:
1. Der_Tables
2. Box_a_Hair
3. Snowey_Owl
4. Bambithedeart
5. PickOfDestiny
6. Ballz
7. Gymnopedie
8. ZombieCPA

Drafting Order:
1. PickOfDestiny
2. Der_Tables
3. Ballz
4. Box_a_Hair
5. Snoweey_Owl
6. Bambithedeart
7. ZombieCPA
8. Gymnopedie

Picks:
PickOfDestiny: Mark Watney (The Martian), Predator (Predator), Starlord (Gaurdians of the Galaxy), Neo (Matrix), T-1000 (T2), Blade (Blade), Hackerman (Kung Fury), Alice (Residant Evil), Tallahassee (Zombieland), The Kid (Turbokid)

Der_Tables: T800 Terminator (T2), Lightning McQueen (Cars 3), Malcom Reynolds (Firefly), Ellen Ripley (Alien), Dr. Zaius (Planet of the Apes), Toxic Avenger (The Toxic Avenger), Triceracop (Kung Fury), Bender (Futurama), Doc Brown (Back to the Future), Herbert West (Reanimater)

Ballz: Robocop (Robocop), Roy Batty (Blade Runner), Max Rockatansky (Mad Max), Snake Plissken (Escape from New York), Darth Vader (Star Wars), Alex (A Clockwork Orange), Marty McFly (Back to the Future), The Gunslinger (Westworld '73), Reggie (Phantasm), Nada (They Live)

Box_a_Hair: Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China), Michael Waits (Troll 2), Kung Fury (Kung Fury), Swamp Thing (Swamp Thing), Special Agent Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks), Dr. Dan Challis (Halloween 3), Morty Smith (Rick and Morty), Tim, the Enchanter(Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Jack Deth (Trancers), Lucien Sanchez (Darkplace)

Snoweeey_Owle: Douglas Quaid (Total Recall), Sarah Connor (Terminator), Han Solo (Star Wars), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Gordon Cole (Twin Peaks), The Flash (The Flash), Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Ashley "Ash" J. William (Evil Dead), Edward Scissorhands (Edward Scissorhands), Eric Draven (The Crow)


Bambithedeart: Dom Cobb (Inception), Xenomorph (Alien), Steve Rogers (Captian America), Furiousa (Mad Max 4), Frank N Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show), Chewbacca (Star Wars), Gamora (Gaurdians of the Galaxy), Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 2017), Ian Malcom (Jurasic Park), Trinity (Matrix)

ZombieCPA: Frankenstein's Monster (Frankenstein), King Kong (King Kong), Gojira / Godzilla (Godzilla), Dr. Jack Griffin (The Invisible Man), The Blob (The Blob), Killbot (Chopping Mall), Taarna (Heavy Metal), Flash Gordon (Flash Gordon), Jack Skellington (A Nightmare Before Christmas), Irena Dubrovna Reed (Curse of Cat People)



Gymnopedie: Vincent Freeman (Gattaca), Donnie Darko (Donnie Darko), Aaron, "Man" (Tetsuo), Jake Epping (11.22.63), John Oldman (The Man from Earth), Truman Burbank (The Truman Show), Nemo (Mr. Nobody), Winston Smith (1984), Tom Creo (The Fountain)

Board Modifications, and a reflection of what became of TE

As you know, I've been working on a lot of stuff lately, and you'll be seeing those changes in seemingly random increments. Posts are now able to be categorized under as many boards as you want, and that required me to go through EVERY post and manually set them. That means I had to go back in time, to the very first posts of Trash Epics. In doing so, I saw all that potential we had, and all those users who were once very active, only to see our userbase dissipate over petty squabbles.

I'm not going to lie about my feelings. No one here will ever understand how hard this has been on me. I've put so much of my life into this site, only to see 90% of its userbase turn their backs on it in favor of social media conglomerates, or even internet abstinence.

I went into this with the best of intentions, trying to provide an ideal place for horror boarders and trash fanatics even before the fall of imdb, sacrificing some of the best years of my life trying to make this place something that people could be happy to be a part of. I look back on the people who used to post here, and I miss them. They were all so enthusiastic to be a part of this at one point, but now where are they?

I've tried to reach out to a few of them, only to get no response. I miss the likes of shaza123, slasherfan85, moffat, RedHawk10, skeelo, sethyeah, FarmerVincent, deadandburied81, iceflamez, BarkingBaphomet, psychotronicbeatnik, Shadow-345, and countless others. And dare I say, I even miss Tromafreak.

I think about these things more than I care to admit. I feel hurt about it more than anything. I thought of these people as friends. I thought we had something special going here, taking a stand against the moral bankruptcies of so many other mass social media platforms that only care about fans and making money, only to find these people turn their backs on everything I tried to accomplish here, without any word as to why they're doing it.

I know a lot of it stemmed from politics. I was pro-Trump in the election era, but I never thought I'd lose so many friends because of it. Sure, people will tell you that they're not real friends if they abandon you over opinions like this, but it doesn't make it any less devastating. I've lost these so-called "friends" because I thought I had common sense, but in retrospect, I know I should have kept quiet about certain things, whether I believed them or not.

People you've been close to for years can be so willing to throw you away because you believe in something that they don't, and I guess it hits me so hard because I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't throw away my friends because they don't share the same political or religious beliefs as me. I'm 30 years old, and I feel so stupid sometimes for believing that people can legitimately care about things that are different than they are.

Trash Epics was never about making money. It's a passion project and outlet for movies first and foremost. Why so many people had to take offense to that is beyond me, but a majority of them left without a word. I'll never know why our most confided users left us, because they do so abruptly, as if we ought to know better.

Again, this is why I feel stupid, because I don't know why. Life is hard enough trying to make ends meet. I know I play the poor white trash card a lot, because I'm generally uneducated and spend far too much of my time making next to nothing, yet somehow, I seem to offend people enough that they want nothing to do with me. It's hard to wrap my head around, and that's why it eats away at my soul so much. I suppose everyone has their issues, and I'm not seeing the big picture, but so much of my life is overwhelmed with regret, because I know that somewhere down the line, I know I fucked it all up. For the life of me, I'm just too dumb to know how.


I've had about a hundred ounces of beer tonight and it isn't helping. I had a dream last night that took me back to my teen years when I had ambitions and enthusiasm, ready to make my imprint of sleaze and self-confidence in the world, but I lose more and more of that every day. I don't have the passion for anything, because most of my life is caught in the grind of working one job one day, and going to sleep early so I can make it to the next job on the day after. It gets to me, and while I try to utilize the rest of my time in working on site updates, I feel like it doesn't matter what I do. I never seem to get anything done. Markus must think I'm a real tool for failing so hard on these challenges, and he wouldn't be wrong. I drain all my energies for a cause that less and less people seem to believe in, and it's discouraging, but it's all I have, and I can't quit. The moment I give up on this site is the moment I die.

I thank God for those here who haven't given up on it yet. No matter how many bugs and server errors they've seen over the years. I just wish others could have had more faith in this place, and faith in me. As much as I want to hate some of them for leaving, I'm really only mad at myself for fucking it all up, and I wish things could be different.


In a perfect world, Trash Epics would have been the ideal horror board replacement. Instead, I see the likes of that godawful IMDB2, moviechat, filmboards, and even facebook getting it right where I couldn't. Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and cut your losses. The days of the horror board are dead, people are sheep, and we can only ever work toward something new. These days, I guess I'm working only to keep myself distracted from my own thoughts, but they always bleed through, especially after a drink or six. Maybe I'm just not drinking enough, because I can't seem to drown these sorrows out. I wish I could reinvigorate audiences with something new and unique, but I haven't thought of it yet, and I'm not sure I ever will.

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

Here's a good sci-fi movie that randomly popped into my head that would be perfect to watch for this month's challenge. Based on a book, this is a time-traveling military experiment gone wrong. Originally to be directed by John Carpenter, he opted to be executive producer instead, essentially outstretching his hand and collecting that paycheck. Trivia says he never even met the director. 😄

So back in 1943, an experiment in invisibility goes wrong, sending David Herdeg (Michael Pare) and his fellow navy buddy to 1984, where things continue to go wrong for the two. The military is after them, David's buddy is phasing in and out of existence, and a hole in the sky seems to be sucking in air, and it's only getting bigger. David seeks help from an unsuspecting Allison (Nancy Allen), someone in the wrong place at the wrong time, but then again... the same could be said about David, right?

The two leads have good chemistry, and this is perhaps both of their best roles. Michael Pare is a cool guy whose career started off strong, but began to nosedive into a succession of bit parts in crappy B-movies, like Maximum Conviction with Steven Seagal, and Blubberella. Apparently, he's even in a 2012 made-for-tv remake of this very movie, which looks like syfy quality. There was also a sequel to the 1984 movie in 1993, but they recast our protagonist, so I didn't care to see it.

This movie has some interesting things going for it, like rifts, phasing/merging, time loops, and unnatural romance. I like it.

Tits

Tits are wonderful. Post pictures of your favorite movie tits in the coments.

RoboCop and Darkman

Here's another random-ass comparison thread pertaining to the overt similarities between 1987's sci-fi flick about the future of law enforcement and 1990's comic book-y superhero flick.

Besides the fact that both of the movies turned into comics and both movies have 3 official sequels in which our protagonist eventually gets recast, the plots are otherwise very similar.


Alex Murphy is shot to shit and comes back to exact revenge upon the gang who perpetrated the heinous act against him, whilst stopping an evil corporation that's intent on taking over the city.

Peyton Westlake is blown to shit and comes back to exact revenge upon the gang who perpetrated the heinous act against him, whilst stopping an evil corporation that's intent on taking over the city.

RoboCop has a wife who he misses, but his condition leaves him in no position to pursue that relationship anymore.

Darkman has a girlfriend who he misses, but his condition leaves him in no position to pursue that relationship anymore.


In the end, both gangs are just pawns for the greater evil, which is always some business tycoon who ends up falling off a building.

Don't watch the trailer for Black Christmas 2019

Spoilers galore. Basically spoils the entire movie and any potential twist it may have had. WTF, Hollywood? For shame.

Twin Peaks actor collaborations

So I've been rewatching Twin Peaks, again, and I can't help but think of all the great movies that feature multiple actors from the series.

RoboCop (1987) features Miguel Ferrer, Ray Wise, and Dan O'Herlihy. In this take, Albert is kissing Andrew Packard's ass as Leland is assisting in the criminal apocalypse. I think this movie is top-notch 80s sci-fi, and gory as shit to boot. Twin Peaks wouldn't unleash it's brutality until the 1992 movie, but 2/3rds of these actors meet a nasty demise in this cyborg thriller.

Perhaps the most comedic collaboration features Big Ed and Nadine in Wes Craven's "The People Under the Stairs", where yet again, these two lovebirds are actually into each other, as well as batshit crazy. Now we all know that Nadine has some wickedly funny albeit pointless subplots in Twin Peaks, but now we get to see the straight-laced Big Ed playing an insane abductor as well, and he even wears a gimp suit! Fun times.

In some more minor appearances, we have Major Garland Briggs and Hank Jennings have bit parts in that baseball slow-burner "The Fan", in which De Niro plays an obsessive fan who stalks Wesley Snipes. Briggs only had a cameo, and Hank only had a few lines, but it should have been the other way around. I always thought Don Sinclair Davis had a strange intrigue about the way he acted, and it's unfortunate that he was reduced to minor cameo in this. I never liked the character of Hank Jennings, because he tried to make everyone pity him, despite being an unlawful criminal who tried to muscle his way in and out of every situation. Fuck him.

And finally, we have FBI Agent Denise Bryson and Annie Blackburn in that later season of Californication, where she plays the mom of Duchuvny's illegitimate son. It's a shortlived romance, but Twin Peaks immediately comes to mind, because my mind tries to draw parallels to TP any chance it gets.

Of course, David Lynch would often feature Kyle MacLachlan, Jack Nance, and many others, which can be seen at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_frequent_David_Lynch_collaborators .

My mind draws these pointless parallels for some reason. Maybe it's nothing, but maybe the owls are not what they seem. •lounge music•

Movies where people are "retired" at a certain age

Logan's Run - People are recycled on the carousel at 30.
Midsommar - The elders commit senicide at 72.
Children of the Corn - They are sacrificed at 19.

Any others?

The House by the Lake

This movie is out on Blu-ray in a limited mediabook edition. Some websites are calling it an all-region disc but on the box it clearly says region B. Has anyone actually gotten it and know for sure?