Re: ***Official 8th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge***
Terribly sorry for not checking in Monday and Tuesday. It's been difficult to post here and RT after the weekend. I watched 18 films over the Friday thru Sunday period. Not included in this contest.
Here's the ones I watched Monday and Tuesday. Tough days.
Monday, October 1st1. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. (1987) First of the series that I saw in the theater. Easily the most accessable out of the 1st 3 films. It cleverly uses elements of Dungeons & Dragons with each kid playing their fantasy dream character. That was a great idea. I also like most of how they advanced the story elements and background. Although I’m not terrible happy with the holy water/cross bits. What is this, Dracula? But nothing hurts this film except it’s not quite as scary at the other 2. Still, it might just remain the best of the series after the original. Nicely done. 8/10
2. The Exorcism of Emily Rose. (2005) This film needs to replace all it’s lightbulbs. Everything is dark. All courtrooms and hospitals I’ve seen are well lit. I was disappointed in how less scary this is the second spin. I remember this really disturbing me last year. It’s still highly interesting with the intriging courtroom elements as well as the flashbacks concerning the title character’s odd experiences. I’d put The Entity above this in scares. I can’t watch The Entity without have paranoid moments after. But this one is no problem. Btw, I’m leaning towards a more conventional explaining using the notion that the simpliest explanation is almost always the right one. But hell…ya never know! And this film does make you think. It’s just not real scary. 7.5/10
3. Merlin’s Mystical Shop of Wonders. (1996) Strung together TV episodes (which resemble Amazing Stories, Twilight Zone, and the like) disguised as a movie about Merlin the scorcorer running a magic store in a modern shopping center right next to K-Mart. He tries to help the good and punish the bad in all sorts of odd ways. To be honest, this is fairly enjoyable since I grew up watching crap like this. The one about the unappealing newspaper critic getting what he deserves thanks to Merlin’s magic book is really entertaining and funny too. This movie was shown as “the lost episode” on the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 because another channel (HBO, I believe) had exclusive rights to show it at the time and they had to wait until the show palyed it’s final episode to run this one. I consider it one of the best because it’s so damn watchable. You can’t beat horror anthologies (espeically one feature on this first rate show) and I’ve got several more planned for this month. MOVIE 7/10 WITH MIKE AND THE BOTS 10/10
4. Carnival of Souls. (1962) Whew! One more. What a doozy! Criterion released this one. That’s how worthy it is. It’s like a b-movie studio threw together a movie and accidently created something with loads of creepy atmosphere and even stuff to make you think about what’s going on. I’m of the notion that much of this film is pretty straight forward. But on the other hand, there is plenty to debate about. Personally, I’d love to do my horrorthon right in the middle of some of the places featured in this film. That carnival espeically. Recommended for everyone. 8.5/10
October 2nd5. Phenomena. (1985) (a.k.a. Creepers)
I heard this DVD is flawed. Perhaps a BUG in the transfer. (sorry about that)
Pleasance is about to show Connelly his monkey.
First time viewing. I think I ended up with the longer re-release USA version. At least it wasn’t the butchered shorter one. The gore seems intact but the music is a little messy in places. At the OOP prices I’ll take what I can get cheap. This film is not quite put together with strong cohesion but Connelly has a certain charm, in the role I was calling Fly Girl, so I had no problem following her, Donald Pleasance and the chimp along for the ride. Yeah, the chimp. Heh heh! Connelly has a way with insects and they did a pretty good job with those scenes. I really liked the buggy aspects of this film since I have a thing for spiders. I hardly ever kill spiders around the house unless they are poisonous. So you can usually find a lot of varieties around my place. My landlady once bleached the outside walls and painted the house. She took out every spider and caused a pest epidemic that has never fully subsided. My spiders used to kill wasps for me, along with everything else that got stuck in their webs. I wish I had the power to send them around town to do my bidding, but no suck luck. Anyway, back to the film…. this is a better Argento than I expected. He does really good things with creepy crawlies and makes them an important part of the story instead of just something visual to make you go “eewwwww…”. My favorite scene is definitely the one featuring the vat that Connelly stumbles into. Awesome! I remember seeing that scene, perhaps in a trailer, years ago and have wanted to see the whole movie ever since. I wasn’t disappointed in this at all. Although I won’t touch the version called Creepers, if this is re-released in original form at an affordable price ($15 or less) I’ll be all over it. 7/10
6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake) (2003) (a.k.a. The Jessica Biel T&A Show, hee hee)
Very nice looking cast. An orgy scene could’ve improved its imdb.com score.
From one of the weaker scenes in the film because Biel’s T&A is not showing.
Learn from this picture. Never pick up female hitchhiker’s with guns stuck up in their happy place.
Whatever you think of this film, if you’re into hot chicks at all you’re okay with it’s shortcomings. Biel is breathtaking. I’m missing the fun gore because my eyes are trained on her as
s packed in those tight jeans or enjoying the wet t-shirt contest she wins handily in the basement of the Leatherface home. What a beauty! In fact, along with Biel the whole film looks fantastic. One of the biggest strengths of the original is how gritty the whole thing looks but this newer film is sharp and clear but still works okay thanks to a limited color palatte that does a great job of emulating a grim tone. I’ll not hide the fact that I like this remake a lot. The original film is a horror classic that influenced my horror preference for years. This remake is just a good film. Somehow, even though it’s familiar material, they were able to make it look like something different enough so it doesn’t feel like a waste of 90 minutes like the 1998 version of Psycho. Further, most of the characters are different than the original and that helped as well. The sheriff character is easily the best of the lot, with a first rate performance from Full Metal Jacket’s R. Lee Ermey. He’s more menacing than Leatherface himself, perhaps a weakness for the film depending on how you look at it. But Ermey always does it to the hilt in these roles so it is no surprise he’s scary than “the dude wearing other people’s skins on his face” . Heh heh! This was a blind buy in 2004 I believe. Ended up being one of that years surprises and highlights. I enjoyed it okay this year but not as much as the passed few times I’ve watched it. Blame it on a bad day. Btw, I watched the original last month during a short warmup. It’s among my favorite horror films of all time. 8/10
7. The ‘Burbs. (1989)
Hanks will most likely never make another film like this one. Sad.
“…came with the frame.” Heh heh!
After all the blood, guts, gore and mayhem…….I simply mopped the floor and watched another movie. *rim shot * Needed some laughs. This film is a sure thing for any bad day of the year. Neutralizes bad days within minutes! I was frowning when I hit PLAY but smiling when the ending credits rolled. Definiately a film I could watch again in a week and again be left smiling…oh, and quoting!
Dern: Funny…I don’t remember seeing a moving truck parked outside.Bro Theodore: Well, it was parked outside….ALL DAAAY!!Dern: Ya know, one thing about these old guys….they never leave the house without their hair.
Dern is a hoot as the ex military dude of the neighborhood. Tom Hanks and Rick Ducommun are buddies who talk each other into snooping on the weirdest family in the neighborhood, with hilarious results. It ain’t October without The Burbs. 8/10
Looks great though, and the set is certainly worth picking up.
