From - the new Lost?

So I finally got around to watching the Sci-fi channel show From. I'm currently 8 episodes in with 2 more to go in season 1. I'm finding that the mystery of what's happening really draws me in. In a nutshell, and this is established very early in the show, people arrive at a town and find that they are unable to leave. To make matters worse, as soon as darkness falls the monsters come out. The show likes to drop little bits of information for you every so often which only serves to deepen the mystery. There are also character flashbacks that give further story and hints. I've seen opinions that it's reminiscent of the show Lost, with people asking if From is the new Lost. Incidentally both shows star Harold Perrineau, although this is pure coincidence. I can certainly see what they mean though by drawing parallels between the two shows. I've definitely become hooked on wanting to know what is going on, but unlike Lost I hope we are actually going to get some answers! Haha

2022 in review

listening to 'silver mt zions' 'horses in the sky' ATM new years eve 10:20 and its so ... think about what the fuck you have done...
Well I did go and see the band this year in barcelona (as godspeed and it was part of a festival so I didnt want to go, but I did, And Im glad, I was fuxken broke at the time had like 1.3 euros so bought a 90c box of wine, but fuckin cool )
always do the experience even if it leaves you near broke, memories are worth more than 30 euros of food.

anyways big year for me.

1. birth of only child (janurary)
2. ukraine war (march)
3. see godspeed (september)

next year will be even better (health issues should improve for one thats not a suicide gif btw its the thought they cant get worse)
ATM I sit 1.5 hours before new years, total wealth 30 euros (I have to start selling mt guitars next week, Im like hell Im in my 50s and this is my life, same as the 20s)
but fuck it


listen to horses in the sky


FWIW listening to the attillery fire in kyiv this year was a top 5 moment of my life (more than the birth of my child, oddly addictive)

I did think of this a while ago my top 5 moments (in my life), and yes that broke in.

Next year Im hoping to meet up with my best mate Mike(aint seen him for 25 years) meeting him in oz after 1.5 years apart was one of the best moments of my life. I remebner it so well, fuckin long story ha ha so funny esp the background, me sleeping on the street after getting arrested, getting picked up on the way to work

anyways we drunk wine looking at artwork until they threw us out...
fuckin magic, anyways I hope to meet him


daughter: It looks like its going good with her head, sweeling is going down. She is starting to say dad-da which is nice ... so bad going to hospital and hearing the children just crying and leia is always happy, god to work in a child hospital is the worse job in the world, for her to talk to me would be great



game: getting this out next week as a demo, full game halfway in the year





**

Favorite 5 films of 2022?

In years past I would've said strictly horror but the output of films of recent years dulls in comparison to the days of the HB. Last year I had a tough time making a top 10 list including all genres. This year I'm having a tough time making 5 albeit there are a lot of films I have yet to see this year including The Northman, Pearl, RRR and I hear good things recently about The Menu. I thought it was another subpar year for cinema but here it goes...

Barbarian
X
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Top Gun Maverick
The Banshees of Inisherin (liked this film a lot til the ending)

I need some recs and respect all opinions here so tell us your favorite 5 or even 10 of 2022.

Don't Open Till Christmas 1984

Not the worst Christmas slasher. Overshadowed by the ultimate SNDN from the same year, this London-set holiday horror has a few things to offer. There's a body-count straight away. We don't have a killer Santa here, but rather a guy who kills Santas because he hates Christmas, due to some backstory which is only revealed in a dream at the end? Yeah, I don't get it either, but it's a nice scene.

It's a mean spirited movie. Our kills aren't that graphic, but they're still pretty cool. Stabbings through the head, castrations, some other shit... There's some nice women and nudity, too. Caroline Munro is in there somewhere, and then it gets kinda boring at the climax, but I still found the showdown amusing.

When it comes to the title of the movie, there is some shenanigan involving a wrapped gift. What's in the box?! But if that present was mentioned earlier in the movie, then I absolutely wasn't paying attention at that part.

#Review

Some recent purchases

I haven't done this in a while so it's a bigger list than usual. All blu-rays.

Deadly Manor
Don't Open Till Christmas
Lipstick
The Nightcomers
Shadow Play
Sukkubus
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye
School of Death
Death Game
Night Visitor
Night Ripper
Slumber Party Massacre
The Leopard Man
Curse of the Cat People
The Bat

These are all going to be first time views except the last four, so any thoughts are welcome.

Christmas Challenge 2022

It's that time of the year again, folks! 2022 is almost over, so here we are to wrap up our year with some traditional Christmas shennanigans.

No gimmicks this year. 1 point per minute watched. Christmas movies, Christmas TV show episodes, Christmas specials, and for good measure, New Years movies/episodes will also count.

The challenge will run all month, from December 1st at 12AM to January 1st at 6AM for anyone brave enough to ring in the new year.

Mark your spot and have at it!

The Incel Tapes (2022) 

I watched this found footage on the Tubi earlier and it was pretty entertaining. This angry virgin loser who lives with his mom and has no friends films his whole life and goes on about what a miserable piece of shit he is and how much he hates women for not fucking him. He used to have 2 friends but I'm guessing he screamed at them too much. He gets in touch with them and convinces them to go on a road trip with him after guilt tripping them by claiming he has brain cancer with 2 weeks left to live. The healthy-looking virgin has a list of stuff he wants to do before he dies which includes petting a giraffe, but most importantly, sticking his dick inside a female, which is easier said than done cuz this guy is a real cunt. His naive but well-meaning former friends do their best to help this idiot accomplish his goals, unaware that he's perfectly fine, but also plans on stabbing them to death at some point. Weird, dark little twist out of nowhere as well as the blatant assholishness of the main character makes this pretty fun.

The Lodge 2019

This one sorta falls under the Christmas horror blanket. What I'm about to say isn't so much a spoiler as it is the primary setup for the movie, but it begins with a family on the verge of a divorce. The wife is very upset about it, and then I started thinking, "Hey, I recognize that lady... it's Alicia Silverstone! I didn't know she was-" ... and then she blows her brains out. 😲 Wow! Okay then...

So our family's father has his two kids head out to "The Lodge" for Christmas to spend time getting acquainted with his new girlfriend. The one that he was cheating on the mom. Talk about uncomfortable, but she seems nice enough, played by Riley Keough. Her character has a briefly touched upon and bizarre backstory, and the kids don't want to give her a chance. For some reason I don't remember, dad ends up leaving them alone with her over the course of the movie, and things quickly take a turn for the worse, with bad weather keeping them stuck in a bad situation.

It's a slow-burn story about madness, repenting, and purgatory. I tend to like these bleak and artsy horror flicks so long as they have the balls to throw in some violent bits. It's borderline pretentious, but everyone puts in a decent effort and you want to know wtf happens in the end. But in that regard, the ending may seem a bit inconclusive. Not a groundbreaking mainstream horror movie, but it doesn't need to be. It's one of those character pieces focused on mood and made with what I can only assume is a lower budget. Nothing extravagant, but that's a good thing.

#Review

Prey 2022

I'm late to the party on this because I wasn't entirely thrilled by the idea of a native-american prequel, BUT... I did end up enjoying it. The plot kicks off with that dreaded idea of a woman having to prove herself, but considering the 1719 time period, it veers more into historical relevance rather than modern feminist. No more beefcakes this time around, but our leading lady does a good job.

While predators are always the main hunters, this story has our human characters very reliant on the hunting process too. Not for military ops, but for frontier survival. You're probably wondering how a bow and arrow could stop a yautja, but they have other innovations. Our protagonist is forced to rely on the assumption that she's worthless, but she definitely proves the skeptics wrong.

At this point in this or any franchise, I'm glad to see them change things up. Different setting, different era, and even a different looking predator. Still recognizable enough, though his gadgets look somewhat aged to keep from contrasting the time period so much, but they're still space-age alien tech either way. Some familiar items, some new. Sharp and dangerous, and I'm glad our newish studio didn't skimp out on the violence. There is plenty of severed body parts and impalings.

Shout out to the dog, too. The predator hunts a few different animals in the movie, and those are cool scenes. The action is good, and this predator gets a good beatdown, but he definitely earns it. He kills the shit out of people in this movie.

The whole thing seems kind of out of place in the rest of the series, especially given the title change, but it actually kinda makes perfect sense and gives Predator 2's ending a fitting backstory. I'd say it's better than The Predator from 2018, and perhaps better than 2010's Predators.

#Review

Christmas Bloody Christmas 2022

Shudder gifted us with another one of those evil Santa Claus movies. Aren't there enough of those already? I put it on for background noise, but the vivid lighting and punky overtones got me invested from the get-go.

In the first minute of the movie, we're given all the setup that we need. A robotic Santa has been deployed for consumer purchase, and who gives a fuck about the specifics of his programming. I absolutely loved that this movie didn't bother explaining things any further than that. There's a killer Santa robot hunting naughty people. Probably just people in general. Anybody who crosses its path should die for some reason, just because.

Before the carnage lets loose, we're given quite a bit of buildup between our lead characters. One is the rebelious owner of a rock record store, and the other is a somewhat charming, but still pretty lame employee who's trying really really hard to get with this girl. I can see why she wants to put him off for so long, but put enough drinks in anyone and they'll come around.

So our two characters spend the first half hour drinking and rambling about music and movie references that they probably think are hip and unexpected, but to any self-respecting horror fan, they come off obvious common knowledge. Stuff like Clancy Brown being great in Pet Sematary 2. Yeah, we know that already. And stuff about Lemmy being badass. Yeah, we know already.

There's a lot of banter early on, and despite it coming across as basic fandom drivel, it does feel authentic. They bounce their dialogue off each other quite well, and it isn't some forced vulgar shit like Rob Zombie would write, but I feel like they had him in the back of their minds. And as that comparison was brought to my attention, a Rob Zombie alumni Jeff Daniel Phillips appeared on the screen. RZ's movies may be grating at times, but his actors have potential and I like to see them in other things. Except Sheri Moon, who only ever appears in RZ movies because her appeal is too niche for the rest of the world.

I was discussing with @ballz about how the Terminator franchise needs to ditch its overbloated T2 rehash entries if it ever wants to come back to life, and this movie is the key. I think a great way to reboot that series would be to take a cue from this movie about a random-ass killer robot who targets unsuspecting hapless victims for reasons unknown. He does it violently, and he takes a massive amount of abuse.

Director Joe Begos might be someone to watch out for.

#Review