Member: Charlie2300

Yes - I have 'Uzumaki'. I really liked the overall tone, in which the horrors that you do see take a back seat to what is implied, in the grand old HPL tradition. I thought the settings were great, and I liked the color filters or whatever they used to attain the greenish hues of the film. And that great scene with the snail-folk crawling over the side of the building - a nice creep-out moment!

posted by KentonSem at 3:40 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

It's funny that you mentioned 'House of Leaves', since I was just considering having another go at it myself. I've also made two attempts and stopped at about a third of the way through each time. I really enjoyed the story, but it just seemed to get too exhausting, rather like the effect the house itself was having on the characters. I think this is a special work, and I'm determined to get through it eventually. Perhaps it should be considered the Mount Everest of Haunted House books!

posted by KentonSem at 12:07 pm (EST) on Apr 5, 2009

Charlie,

Thanks very much for the suggestion. I wasn't aware of 'Crazy as Hell', but it sounds intriguing. Luckily, Netflix has it available for streaming (but not for home-rental), so I'll try to watch it this weekend. Thanks for the IMDB spoilers alert, too. I'll read nothing about it before I see it.

If I can recommend one back, I was quite taken by 'Soft for Digging' (1998). Here's a short review I did not long ago:

The loneliness of an aging man. The convergence of mystery and fate. The vengeance of the dead. This 1998 thesis by two NYU film students is a disturbing little wonder. There is almost no dialog beyond a single word by the old man and a couple of sentences uttered by a priest near the end that only serve to broaden the mystery - and perhaps the horror - of what is actually going on. The bleak locations and the rather somnambulant point of view reminded me to an extent of Lynch's ERASERHEAD and Dreyer's VAMPYR, but this film is unique, and stands on its own as a work of horror. There is nothing here for those with short-attention spans. There is little comfort, and any explanations are left vague and unsettling. In only 74-minutes, SOFT FOR DIGGING intimates the unspeakable and builds to a jangling, terrifying crescendo that will reward the patient viewer.

-Kenton

posted by KentonSem at 11:04 am (EST) on Mar 31, 2009