Binge Bones

  Kwaidan (1964) RELEASED December 29, 1964 RUNTIME 183 mins DIRECTOR Masaki Kobayashi  WRITERS Yoko Mizuki (screenplay), Lafcadio Hearn (novel)  STARS Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe COUNTRY Japan LANGUAGE Japanese  STUDIOS Bungei, Toho Company, Ltd., Ninjin Club, Toyo Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha  GENRES Drama, Fantasy, Horror Streaming on: Criterion, HBOMax The plot: An anthology of four folk tales with supernatural themes. Random observations: There are many moments where the sets seem like living paintings. Theydies and Gentlethems, I give you Gothic Rashomon.  I love anthologies. <3 Well, I'm ashamed to say it, but this is a first watch for me. It's been on my to-see list for as long as I can remember, but somehow it kept slipping through my fingers.  This film is very much style over substance, but the style is unlike anything else. This is the ASMR of horror films.  Also, this puppy is now on the list of one of the best ...

  Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) RELEASED February 28, 1965 RUNTIME 98 mins DIRECTOR Freddie Francis  WRITER Milton Subotsky (screenplay)  STARS Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Neil McCallum COUNTRY United Kingdom LANGUAGE English  STUDIOS Paramount, Amicus Productions GENRES Horror Streaming on: TubiTV, Popcornflix The plot: A group of five strangers gets their tarot cards read, resulting in a 5-part anthology. Random observations: This film marks the theatrical movie debut of Roy Castle (Biff Bailey). First in a row of anthologies to be put out by Amicus. Donald Sutherland is a BABY!!!!!! The atmosphere of Amicus films is always charming to me. I love the color palettes and the quaint coziness of UK horror.  With a total running time of 98 minutes, it's hard to get any depth in any of the five mini-stories. It's probably something that could have been adjusted rather easily, but oh well. I'm not quite sure why the title says "House" of Horrors, when...

Deadtime Stories (1986) RELEASED November 28, 1986 RUNTIME 93 mins DIRECTOR Jeffrey Delman  WRITERS Jeffrey Delman, J. Edward Kiernan, Charles F. Shelton  STARS Scott Valentine, Nicole Picard, Matt Mitler COUNTRY United States LANGUAGE English  STUDIOS Overseas FilmGroup, Scary Stuff  GENRES Horror, Comedy Streaming on: TubiTV, Hoopla, Shout TV, FlixFling, Amazon The plot: An uncle who has no business being around children at all is left to babysit his nephew. He regales him with 3 different bedtime fairy tales most likely scarring the poor kid for life. I hope he didn't get paid.  Random observations:  Deadtime Stories still has a Facebook page, although they haven't posted since 2019 when a special edition vinyl of the soundtrack was released.  All the special effects in this movie were done in-camera. This film is like what happens if you order The Princess Bride on Wish. A half-assed anthology using bastardized fairy tales. The soundtrack is t...