Previously I had at times gotten behind on my task of daily posts for this feature. But then I got completely derailed from everything in life for the last week. But I’m back now and hoping to get back on track… well, as on track as I can. Obviously there is no way to conclude the October Horrors “in October.” So tomorrow we will get a new banner for it as I work towards the inevitable end of the alphabet.
Without further ado, let’s get it on with the wonderful letter L.
There is no way Lost Boys doesn’t make the list. I can’t think of any vampire movie that would be chosen above this if you asked me to put in a vampire movie to watch.
I would honestly call this movie flawless. Great characters populate the world here. Fantastic actors bring them to life. Do I really need to go into the story? Kiefer Sutherland is a vampire in the 80’s. Ya know what, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it. If you have seen it, most likely it’s been awhile, go watch it again.
And as an added bonus, the soundtrack to this movie is, in my opinion, the best original soundtrack for any movie. Ever. Not a bad song among them, and each song will get my musical juices flowing when it comes on. A soundtrack so good that when they decided to make Lost Boys 2 they reused the songs (also kinda reused the plot as I recall.) Lost Boys 3 redeemed the franchise a bit. But I have thoughts about what would have been a much better and amazing story. Maybe I will do a Lost Boys deep dive sometime. That would be fun.
This is a low budget movie. And that shows. I received a copy of it way back in 2009 for Horror-Web. I enjoyed it then and have in the years since. Were I to cull my DVD collection, this would stay on my shelf!
The general plot is about an apartment building that has a demon problem. It acts as a portal allowing demons to come in and eat the tenants. Tyler is the titular landlord of the apartment building who constantly needs to find new tenants as vacancies are frequent. While the overall story is interesting and the low budget nature is, well, low budget. The star here is the demon Rabisu. He is campy and funny and entertaining as he steals the show here.
Unfortunately, Emil Hyde the writer and director of this gem made only this one movie. I am surprised that there wasn’t an attempt to bring a follow up Rabisu story to the screen. Also, while I do thoroughly enjoy and recommend the movie, do not spend $399 buying a copy from Amazon. I think it is on Tubi for free streaming.
A couple move from NY to London and find that their life changes in ways that don’t make sense. As their life gets more erratic between his work and them finding a grave in their basement. She becomes possessed and he has to find a way to bring her back.
It’s no surprise to anyone that I am a fan of Hellraiser. I distinctly recall feeling a connection to the original Hellraiser when I watched this for the first time. Both movies had a very grounded reality to them. A couple moving into a home and then things take a turn.
As I write this I am discovering that the film actually garnered quite a bit of negative reviews. Which surprises me because I was so enthralled by it. The director Robert Pratten went on to make just one more movie before leaving the cinematic creative world.
Ironically enough, if you look on Amazon you can find the movie but the image is a Dallas Cowboys hoodie. I can only hope that if you order from them you get a DVD and not a hoodie. I do believe this can also be streamed on Tubi.
This is a black comedy more so than a horror movie. But that doesn’t exclude it from my list here. Should it have? Perhaps. But getting more people to know about this movie is a good thing. And I feel like there is room for more thinking in the world of horror, not just jump scares and blood and guts.
When Pete gets stranded on his way home, a truck driver gives him a lift. Pete offers dinner to the trucker as thanks. During dinner things get a bit out of control as the trucker lets loose with his racist beliefs culminating in him pulling a weapon on the group. The five friends react and kill him in self defense. In the aftermath of the death, they decide to simply bury him in their backyard and hide the body. But then another thought is openly discussed. The world is better off with him dead. And wouldn’t it be better for the world if they found others who were equally terrible. And removed them as well.
This is such an amazing experience. And given the current political and societal situation we find ourselves in, it makes you think about a lot of things. Primarily the idea that an individuals morality and beliefs can absolutely be taken to an extreme and be deemed for the greater good, but how easy is it for the opposing view to see you as the evil in need of removal.
Check this out if you like being challenged.
There is something missing in this post. My subtitled/foreign entry. I’ll be honest here, I didn’t have an L lined up for this. It is a letter missing on my shelf. Luckily there is a high profile movie I have heard a lot about that would fit this. La Llorona. But wait, there isn’t a movie. There are like 30+. I chose the recent one (I think) and tried to watch it. I found it convoluted and uninteresting. Couldn’t wrap my head around it enough to suggest it in any way. But with such a rich history to it, I have been thinking it deserves a deeper look. Perhaps as a retrospective in film and literature and culture. But that doesn’t fit with what I am doing here.
So alas, L gets no foreign love today. But there was a plethora of L movies listed above. I think enough to make up for my deficit here. I shall endeavor to do better when I get to M (actually already have my M subtitled entry sitting on the DVD player!)
Cthulhuville 