My reviews for the #PodcastMacabre Horror Challenge:
1. Automation: https://boxd.it/3Vsy3r
#PM2023
A ★★★ review of Automation (2019)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 1/52 13: A Graham Skipper film Tubi "He's firing a laser! We don't need that for shipping and receiving!" A scrapped military robot with PTSD is repurposed to work in the shipping and receiving department of a nondescript office building in the near future, falls in love with a goth girl, and goes haywire when he discovers he's being replaced with newer models. And it's a Christmas movie! I liked the look of the robot -- big and clunky, and the actor in the suit does a fantastic job of moving stiffly. Once you
A ★★★½ review of Skinamarink (2022)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 2/52 11. 10 or less characters with named or speaking roles Shudder 100% vibes. Put this film on and leave it on loop for your next Halloween party of seance. SKINAMARINK is all unsettling vibes and it nails it. Admittedly, it took me a second try to finish this. You need to watch this at night, with the lights off. Put your phone away. No talking. Pay attention. These days, that's a lot to ask from me. So it took a bit for me to get into it, and I'm sure others never made
A ★★★★ review of Night of the Demon (1980)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 3/52 32. From the 1980s you have not seen before Rental Finally caught this bad boy with a $2.99 Prime rental. The video and sound quality were terrible, but I promised myself if I enjoyed it I'd buy myself the Severin Blu-Ray, which looks incredible. Well folks, I had a fuckin' blast, so now I'd better pony up and get myself a copy. This came out during a backwoods and Bigfoot horror craze, but this is definitely the dick-rippingest, face-burningest, sleeping-bag-tossingest of all Bigfoot films. Apparently James Wasson's original film was pretty tame, but
A ★★★½ review of Gaia (2021)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 4/52 34. Woodland or forest setting Hulu I've been watching THE LAST OF US on TV and I have to imagine GAIA was at least partially inspired by the games. It's about a fungus that infects people and turns them into zombie-like creatures with mushroom protrusions all over them. They even make similar clicking noises as the clickers in TLOU. You could easily watch this as a companion piece and assume it takes place in the same universe. Whether or not you've watched/played TLOU, GAIA is a good time, with some fun effects. It
A ★★★ review of Night Game (1989)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 5/52 51. Sports related Tubi Baseball season is here! I thought now would be a good time to pop this on. Roy Scheider plays a burned out Texas cop. Formerly a big shot Dallas detective, some incident got him sent down to the "minor leagues" of Galveston. Scheider's character, Mike Seaver (not to be confused with the kid from GROWING PAINS) is obsessed with the Astros, who are closing in on a pennant. This makes me nostalgic for a good old-fashioned pennant race. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I remember when the latest
A ★★★½ review of Martin (1976)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 6/52 21. From Edgar Wright's 100 Favorite Horror Films of All Time list Tubi "He could be in your neighborhood." MARTIN starts with a disturbing kill on a moving train. We're introduced to a young man who's convinced he's a vampire and needs to feed by drugging women, then slicing their wrists and drinking their blood. He's moving to a dying factory town to live with an elderly cousin, who also thinks he's a vampire, but more of a Hollywood vamp (garlic, stakes through the heart, crucifixes, etc). Romero's vampire film is more of
A ★★★ review of The Ghouls (2003)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 7/52 15. From 2003 Tubi 11 years before NIGHTCRAWLER, THE GHOULS tells the story of a scuzzy video journalist who prowls the city streets at night, capturing the bloodiest and most lurid scenes to sell to news stations. The grime and sleaze is even more over the top though; an early scene shows standing next to a guy butchering his wife, filming the whole thing like he's making a snuff film. The cops show up (one of them played by a young James Gunn) and just tell him to scram. That's the tone we're
A ★★★ review of The Collingswood Story (2002)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 8/52 42. From the 2000s you have not seen before Shudder THE COLLINGSWOOD STORY is recognized as the first "screenlife film," long before UNFRIENDED and HOST. While reviews here are middling I found it pretty fun. Mike Costanza's 2002 video chat shocker brings some solid fall atmosphere and a decent little cult backstory. The video chat psychic is a really fun bit and I love her whole vibe. There are a few areas this gets bogged down. The backstory, while interesting, gets a little more complex than needed. Why are they investigating two separate
A ★★★½ review of Watcher (2022)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 9/52 31. A Maika Monroe film Shudder I'm falling way behind on the Podcast Macabre marathon. But I'm glad I was able to knock this one out, because WATCHER has been on my watchlist since it came out. Maika Monroe is so good. It's slower than I expected -- not boring at all though, it still kept my interest -- but I was hoping for more of a neo-giallo with more kills and bloody set pieces. The suspense builds up slowly, but the finale is solid, especially the final shot.
A ★★½ review of The Blackwell Ghost (2017)
The Podcast Macabre 2023 Horror Challenge 10/52 47. From the 2010s you have not seen before Prime THE BLACKWELL GHOST is a minimalist found footage/mockumentary films that's a little too minimalist. It's got a tight runtime and a likable main character. There's a lot of exposition and gets bogged down in places. I understand this was done on a very low budget but the few scares just didn't really land for me. Overall it wasn't bad but just wasn't my thing. I'll have to read some reviews and see if the series is worth sticking with -- there are currently
Soup Mode 🍲
