*** Official 10th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge 2009 *** - Page 23

Let the Right One In (2008) B-

Just finished the book and was looking forward to the movie. But, as is usually the case with literary adaptations, they had to cut so much away to fit into a 2-hour movie that the story suffers greatly.

Oskar is a lonely 12-year old. Constantly bullied in school, he often slips into violent fantasies where he takes imaginary vengeance on his tormentors. One day, he meets an odd young girl, Eli, who just moved in next door. She smells funny and only seems to come out at night. However, with Oskar having few other options, they strike up a close friendship. Eventually, Oskar discovers that Eli is a vampire. Understanding what it means to be an outcast from society, Oskar does not expose Eli's secret, but feels even closer to her.

There are lots of plot points and subtext missing due to the cuts from the book to movie. Although the author also wrote the screenplay, the film still plays like a disjointed series of highlights (the Cliff's Notes version, if you will) strung together rather than a coherent story. Much of the bullying is missing from the film, so while in the book Oskar seems to be tormented greatly, nearly to the point of a psychotic break, his situation doesn't seem nearly so dire in the film. There's actually a deleted scene on the DVD that would have reinforced some of this...why it was deleted, I'm not sure. The whole scene at Oskar's father's house is so condensed and brief that anyone who didn't read the book is likely baffled at the situation. Also, how Lacke finally tracks down Eli (after she murdered his friend) is completely ambiguous as they cut away huge chunks of plot involving Hakan (Eli's "assistant), which provides the connection in the book for Lacke to find Eli.

The casting wasn't very good, either. The actor they chose for Oskar isn't that great an actor and doesn't fit the body type in the book at all. Part of the reason for his torment and loneliness stems from his "chubbiness," hence the taunts of "Piggy...squeal like a pig." The movie Oskar is a stick figure, so the taunts don't make any sense.  Also, the boy who bullies him in the film does not seem imposing enough to play the character; he's even smaller than Oskar.

Then there are my favorites that seem to occur in any adaptation...changes just for the sake of change. They seem irrelevant and only serve to call notice to themselves for anyone who is familiar with the source material (my all time favorite example being The Bone Collector, where the female lead's last name is changed from "Sachs" to "Donaghy" and the medical/personal assistant to Lincoln Rhyme morphs from a gay white man (Thom) to a black woman (Thelma)...but I digress):

• The lead bully in the book is named Jonny, in the movie he's Conny (though perhaps that's just a Scandanavian pronounciation thing).
• The challenge in the climax in the book is to "hold your breath for 5 minutes," in the movie it's 3 minutes. Why the change? The whole point of the challenge is that it's impossible.  Five minutes seems more implausible than three.
• They changed how Eli spends her days "resting". No reason I can think of, except perhaps to save on the FX budget.

And on and on...I guess I should have learned by now to watch movies first, then read the books after. To do so in reverse is generally always setting yourself up for disappointment.

92. Friday The 13th- The Final Chapter
Jason returns from the dead and heads back to Crystal Lake to target a group of young adults and a small family. My favorite entry in the F13 series. Jason is big and runs after his victims (which makes him more creepy). There's a good atmosphere created by director Joe Zito. Corey Feldman as the rubber mask-making Tommy Jarvis is my favorite Jason survivor. And best of all, the great Tom Savini returns to the series to do the special effects.

93. Friday The 13th- A New Beginning
Someone is killing lots of people near a halfway house that Jason survivor, Tommy Jarvis, is currently living at. This movie is terrible but it's lousiness is somehow fascinating to me. The amount of 1980's horror stereotypes goes over into parody but you can tell that they somehow take everything seriously. In 90 minutes, they must kill nearly 25 people (probably half of which have one scene and are killed), say 'fuck' almost 50 times and there's at least 4 topless girls. I'm not neccessarily complaining about any of that but it's more like someone's idea of what they do in a F13 movie than what most F13 movies are like.

On a Blu-ray note, I'm really surprised that these two movies didn't get a BR release this year. I'm really looking forward to when they do come out though.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
 Android Apocalypse (2006)
And Now the Screaming Starts (1973)

I've been busy the last couple of days and really haven't had time to jot down any thoughts. This is what I've watched lately, The Abominable Dr. Phibes being my favourite. You can't go wrong with Vincent Price.

I really do love the Phibes films. This year I've watched the first one (1971) you listed, but have yet to watch Dr. Phibes Rises Again for this year's Challenge. Maybe that will have to be viewed this weekend. :)

94. Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI
Jason returns from the dead and starts killing counselors at the reopened camp. This movie is enjoyable because the writer/director had some fun with it. He still takes the movie seriously but he does allow for some moments of levity and that gives some distinction to the movie and makes it one of the best in the F13 series.

EDIT:
95. Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Jason gets awoken from his watery grave by a troubled telekinetic teenage girl. Needless to say, he gets right back to killing people in the area surrounding Crystal Lake. I'm not a big fan of this entry in the series. Half of the characters are so annoying or hateful that you want to see them die and that's a bad idea because not wanting them to die can create suspense (something that's missing entirely from this movie). It is nice to see that they tried something different by having a girl with a supernatural power fight Jason but that always seemed too outside the realm of F13 for me. The best thing about the movie is Kane Hodder playing Jason. I know Hodder's contribution has been blown out of proportion (he's not Boris Karloff playing the Frankenstein monster or Robert Englund playing Freddy Krueger) but his Jason is still pretty cool.
Edited by TravisR - 10/29/09 at 7:23pm

Dance of the Dead (2008) B+

Pinched this synopsis from IMDB, but it's a perfect single-sentence summary of the film: "On the night of the big High-School Prom, the dead rise to eat the living and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance."

I'm not really a zombie fan, but I really like this movie. Laughs and scares, humor and gore. If you enjoyed "Shaun of the Dead," you should enjoy this film, too.

Saw V: Unrated Director's Cut (2008) 

A much-needed improvement over the disapointing SAW IV, this one has Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) now firmly established as Jigsaw's apprentice and successor in crime. He is trailed closely in his gruesome activities by the intensely committed and undeterred Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson), and there are some neat twists and turns that help this entry sustain interest. Old flashbacks reveal more and more new information (and feature Tobin Bell again as Jigsaw), and tie up loose ends. It's a real challenge sometimes in trying to keep up with what events over this ongoing series happened where and when, as everything is out of sequence. This chapter is boosted by the dedicated and determined Agent Strahm and features some cool and grisly new death traps, along with a strong ending.  

TV:

The Munsters: "Just Another Pretty Face" -- Herman gets struck by a bolt of lightning from a machine down in Grandpa's laboratory and is disfigured for life --- he turns into Fred Gwynne!   He visits his family doctor (Dom Deluise) to discuss the possibility of plastic surgery, but the doc tells him his new face is a distinct improvement.
Edited by Joe Karlosi - 10/30/09 at 4:48am

A better batch of films this week, for the most part.

Out of
First time viewings in BLOOD

Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962)
Move over Big Trouble in Little China , this pulp cinema gem has mercenary (and Action Hero?! ) Vincent Price puffing the pipe, having trippy dreams, being seduced by femme fatales and rescuing oriental slave girls from a Chinese Warlord during a Tong War in turn of the century San Francisco Chinatown. Holy shit, this was fantastic!

The Door with Seven Locks (1940)
An inheritance, a series of mysterious murders, a creepy mansion all add up to just another ordinary "Old Dark House" type mystery.

The Terrornauts (1967)
Gah! this dreadfully cheesy SF epic has an alien civilization kidnapping some earth scientists to help against their enemy. No wonder Amicus stuck with primarily Horror anthologies.

Night Watch (1973)
Very good suspense thriller stars Liz Taylor as a widow who witnesses a murder. Somewhat resembles the much superior Rear Window, nevertheless.......See it!

A Cold Night's Death (1973)
Claustrophobic terror strikes a pair of scientists (Eli Wallach and Robert Culp) at an isolated research station in the Antarctic. Easily one of the better made-for-TV horror's of the era.

The Time Travelers (1964)
World Without End meets The Time Machine as scientists travel to the nuclear wasteland of the future. Nothing really notable here that I haven't seen before.

The Magnetic Monster (1953)
No monsters here in this pretty good serious sci-fi tale as a scientist discover a world threatening isotope.....[GASP]

Oct. 29:

Films:

The Wasp Woman (1959)

The Giant Leeches (1959)  1/2

Update:

Films:

01. The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) 1/2
02. Burnt Offerings (1976)
03. R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour (2007) 1/2
04. The Three Stooges ("We Want Our Mummy") (1939) 1/2
05. The Three Stooges ("Spook Louder") (1943)
06. The Three Stooges ("Hot Scots") (1948)
07. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 1/2
08. Games (1967)
09. The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
10. Halloweentown (1998)
11. The Screaming Skull (1958) 1/2
12. Tales of Terror (1962)
13. Halloweentown II (Kalabar's Revenge) (2001)
14. The Fly (1958)
15. Them! (1954) 1/2
16. Signs (2002) 1/2
17. Halloweentown High (2004) 1/2
18. Return To Halloweentown (2006)
19. Revenge Of the Creature (1955)
20. The Bad Seed (1956)
21. The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) 1/2
22. Mostly Ghostly: Who Let the Ghosts Out? (2008)
23. The Three Stooges ("If A Body Meets A Body") (1945)
24. The Three Stooges ("The Ghost Talks") (1949) 1/2
25. The Haunted Mansion (2003) 1/2
26. Tower of Terror (1997) 1/2
27. The Giant Gila Monster (1959) 1/2
28. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
29. Frankenstein (1931)
30. House On Haunted Hill (1959)
31. The Blob (1958) 1/2
32. Return of the Fly (1959) 1/2
33. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
34. Scooby Doo (2002) 1/2
35. I Bury the Living (1958)
36. The Hand (1960)
37. Curse of the Fly (1965) 1/2
38. The Wasp Woman (1959)
39. The Giant Leeches (1959) 1/2

Television episodes:

01. The Avengers ("Castle De'ath") (1965)
02. Charmed ("From Here To Eternity") (1999)
03. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("A Night of Fright Is No Delight") (1969) 1/2
04. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("That's Snow Ghost") (1969) 1/2
05. Mr. Monk Goes Home Again (2005)
06. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
07. Dark Shadows (Episode no. 78) (1966)
08. Dark Shadows (Episode no. 79) (1966)
09. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("Bedlam In the Big Top") (1969) 1/2

10. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("Scooby-Doo, and a Mummy Too") (1969) 1/2

11. Wizards of Waverly Place ("Franken-girl") (2009)

12. The Waltons ("Ghost Story") (1974)

13. 7th Heaven ("Halloween") (1996) 1/2
14. Jonas ("The Tale of the Haunted Firehouse") (2009)
15. Charmed ("All Halliwell's Eve") (2000)
16. The Nightmare Room ("Camp Nowhere" pts. 1 and 2; "Don't Forget Me"; "Full Moon Halloween") (2002)
17. Wizards of Waverly Place ("Monster Hunter") (2009)
18. Strawberry Shortcake ("Moonlight Mysteries") (2005) 1/2
19. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 46) (1966)
20. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 47) (1966)
21. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 48) (1966) 1/2
22. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 49) (1966)
23. The Nightmare Room ("My Name Is Evil"; "Scareful What You Wish For"; "Tangled Web"; "Fear Games") (2002)
24. Zoey 101 ("Haunted House") (2005) 1/2
Edited by Ockeghem - 10/31/09 at 8:30am

072) 10/29/2009 The Creeper (1948)

Young girl returns from the West Indies with a fear of cats.  When she goes to work for her research doctor father, brutal murders begin.  Rather tired cat-themed horror is pretty ho-hum, although the presence Onslow Stevens and Ralph Morgan helps keeps things moving.
 
073) 10/29/2009 Messiah of Evil (1973) 1/2

When her artist-father stops sending her letters, young woman travels to the small coastal village where he lives to investigate.  But she discovers that a frightening 100 year prophecy may becoming reality.  There are some really good moments here (the supermaket and movie-house scenes stand out) to make this a pretty good low budget effort.  But the unnecessary narration and sluggish pace prevent this from really scoring.

96. Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Jason returns from the dead and kills most of the graduating class of Crystal Lake High on a cruise to New York City. There's lots wrong with this movie- it feels too long (and it's only 100 minutes), it's not scary, the majority of New York City is obviously Vancocuver, Jason without his mask looks like crap, the ending is dumb, etc.

97. Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (uncut)
Jason is killed and tries to get reincarnated via a body of a relative. The 'body hopping Jason' idea seems more like something from one of the Nightmare On Elm Street sequels than a Friday The 13th sequel. The opening of the movie (with the FBI shooting and blowing Jason up) is pretty cool and the girl getting torn in half is the most violent kill in the entire series but the lack of regular Jason doesn't help this movie.

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972)
 

Jess Franco

This Franco product, also known as DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN is perhaps one of his most seen films because with a title like this, people are going to check it out.  In what was rumored to have been his attempt at a HOUSE OF DRACULA remake, Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) brings Dracula (Howard Vernon) back to life so that he can use him as a slave.  At the same time he creates a monster and soon everyone is doing battle as a female vampire (Britt Nichols) also shows up.  Oh yeah, a werewolf shows up out of nowhere as well.  Those going into this expecting a pure homage to the early Universal films are probably going to be disappointed because this aspect of the film doesn't happen until the final five minutes.  For the most part this film comes off as an attempt for the Spanish director to make a silent film because there's very little dialogue here.  I've heard some say this was to make the film more marketable around the world but I doubt this since dubbing wouldn't have been that big of an issue.  The film doesn't really work for several reasons but the biggest is that it's never quite clear what's trying to be done.  As I said, the first seventy-five minutes features very little action while the final five minutes goes into overdrive in terms of camp.  The final showdown between Frankenstein's monster and the werewolf is bound to get many laughs as it's extremely funny especially the sequence where the werewolf goes to jump on the monster but misses.  The fake bats used here are among the worst I've ever seen and why Franco uses a real bat shown drowning to death is beyond me.  The make up on the monster is pretty bad but it's unique in a strange way.  Vernon looks the part of Dracula but he doesn't really do too much.  Price, who would die the following year, doesn't look too good as he comes off ill and doesn't get to do that much either.  Nichols is always easy on the eyes even though she actually doesn't get naked here for a change.  In the end, most people are going to find the film extremely boring and I really don't blame them.  I do respect what Franco was going for in regards to the silent nature of the film but in the end it just doesn't work.
 

Paranormal Activity (2007)
 

Oren Peli
 

By now everyone knows the story but a couple (Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat) begin to experience paranormal activity in their home so they set up a video camera to try and capture what's going on.  As a die-hard horror fan I pay attention to all the news floating around year in and year out.  Each and every year fans hype up the latest scary movie but more times than not that hype ends up being nothing more than the build up for a bad movie.  That's certainly not the case here.  I've had several people tell me this was the scariest film they had ever seen.  I had people telling me they saw folks leaving the theater in tears.  I had heard just about everything you'd want to hear about a horror movie but the most shocking this is that, even knowing the hype, the movie got under my skin like no other that I can remember seeing.  I love a good ghost movie and this here is certainly one of the best.  On a "critic" proof level the film is probably just a three and a half but the overall impact is quite remarkable and in the end this certainly lives up to the opinion of being one of the scariest films ever made.  I'm not going to call out any of the scary sequences as to not ruin them for anyone else but I can think of three that had my blood turning ice cold.  The film has been compared to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which I think is fair because both movies take simple things that can frighten anyone.  In this film we get a wide angle view of the bedroom and at first I didn't like this because you never knew where the "scary" part was going to happen so you were constantly looking all over the frame to pick up that moment.  After a while I realized this was a masterful touch because, like the characters, you never knew where the scary moment was going to happen so by constantly looking around you were just building up the fright level in your head because you had no idea where it was going to come from or what they had in store for you.  The performances by Featherston and Sloat were very good to say the least.  This type of low budget movie usually doesn't feature this type of performances but it's another plus for the film.  Another major miracle is the fact that the filmmakers could do so much with so little, which once again proves that you don't need money to show off talent.  As with the previously mentioned hyped movie, I'm sure this one will take a lot of backlash but that's going to happen with any popular movie.  For me, the movie worked marvelously well and certainly lived up to everything I had heard about it.  Sitting here thinking back on a few of the scenes still gives me goosebumps.

 

98. Jason X
Jason goes into outer space and kills people. This movie was never a classic but when it first came out, I had some fun watching it. However, it's already aged terribly and is arguably the worst movie in the F13 series (though I'd say that Part V edges it out by a hair). It's no surprise that New Line considered putting this out as a direct to video release because there's little about it that makes it look or feel like a theatrical feature.

The Stepfather (2009)  

Knowing that some people are aware of my crusade against what I call "needless modern remakes of already modern-enough movies," I'm guessing they may very well ask why I bothered seeing a new version of the 1987 original (which was already a good horror-thriller as it stood).  Well, my wife and our friends wanted to go to the movies and we'd already seen PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and SAW VI. Also, during one of those other recent trips to the theater I had spent a little time before the show sneaking into THE STEPFATHER for about ten minutes and examining what I now realize was its one best scene, so that made me more willing to take a chance and see the whole thing if everyone else was willing at a later date.

"By the numbers" is probably the best term I would use to sum up my impression of the new 2009 STEPFATHER. Not only had I seen the whole formula before (and I mean in a whole lot of other movies besides just the 1987 STEPFATHER), it offered nothing new or different (I won't spoil the ending except to say it was typical). Thankfully, Dylan Walsh in the title role (some may remember him as the good guy from the NIP/TUCK television series) manages to be effective enough. As an obsessed family man who murders one wife and set of children after another and keeps moving on, ever in search of the perfect household, he is suitably intense and deranged when he needs to be. But as the latest divorced woman he chooses to shack up with, Sela Ward isn't especially memorable here, and the best that may be said for her is that she looks pretty good for a lady in her 50's. The story spends far too much time on her teenage son and his pretty girlfriend, and for some reason we're inundated with a pop music soundtrack almost every time they're together, like we're watching FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH.

It's been about ten years since I've seen the 1987 version, but I recall it being better than this one, and Terry O'Quinn as being superior in the part. I am currently awaiting a shipment of the recently released DVD of the original and hope to revisit it very soon just to make sure.  

Edited by Mario Gauci - 10/31/09 at 3:45pm

23) Scanners (1981)                                 

Maybe rated higher because its the first early Cronenberg I finished and felt like I might watch it again some day. I've just had a bad run lately. I particularly reacted badly to Dead Ringers, despite a wonderful performance(s) from Jeremy Irons; I found the lead female accent... Sorry, actress, totally distasteful; and the plot just too toffy-nosed, misogynitic and contrived to bother with. Scanners on the other hand I loved nearly as much as Naked Lunch. I discovered its the movie that is referred to in Wayne's World where they say "hey, did you ever see that episode of the Twilight Zone where a dude's head blew up?" Or maybe that's The Twilight Zone, but anyway it happens here too.

24) The Village of the Damned (1960)          

Top-quality writing, very British. (Watching now).

25) Young Frankenstein (1974)                  

I thought I might round off my first attempt at this contest by watching this comedy classic, more a tribute to than a satire of James Whale's Frankenstein and its sequel, featuring memorable use of the original set from the original film! (Yay!) And even more memorable characters, and one of the most memorable turns from the lovely Madeline Kahn, surely one of the greatest comediennes ever. A real nostalgic treat for fans of 1930's horror.

Out of
First time viewings in BLOOD


The Headless Horseman (1922)
A silent and rather stale version of the famous Washington Irving story. Nothing but a minor curiosity at best since there have been much better cinematic versions of this most notably from Disney and Tim Burton.

Midnight Faces (1926)
An inheritance, a swampy estate, another hokey "Old Dark House" chiller.  Ho-hum.

Behind the Mask (1932)
Pulpy crime flic has a group of thugs working for a mysterious criminal mastermind. Karloff plays the main enforcer of the gang.

Zaat (1975, FTV) - an idiotic scientist decides to turn himself into a walking catfish monster. He also wants to create a new race of fellow walking catfish monsters. This is a horrible movie. It starts off with some laughable narration and an awful folk song. It only gets worse from there. That said, I was cracking up a lot throughout this thing. There's one golden moment shortly after the guy has changed into monster form. He's walking through a basement and clearly trips over something, perhaps the shitty monster costume itself. We're also privy to the long, drawn out process of him getting his machines, pullies and other junk together for the mutation. This takes up about 20 minutes of screen time all by itself. About halfway through the film, we get more awful singing from a bunch of hippies, followed by a march to the local jail. The so-called hero of the picture is a joke. He and his girlfriend also wear ridiculous red jumpsuits. They should've just stuck with the college guy and the sheriff, not that doing so would have saved the movie or anything. This is #7 on the IMDB bottom 100 list. I wouldn't rate it that low simply because of the amusement I got out of it, but it's really bad.

I decided to watch one more movie after I got home last night...

99. Freddy Vs. Jason
The title says it all. As someone who grew up watching F13 and Nightmare movies, this movie is a dream come true. Some of the acting is a bit shaky (to be nice) but the battle between Freddy and Jason is worth the price of admission. I also think that they managed to blend the two series together about as well as could be done. It ain't great art but if you're a fan of the two characters, you probably enjoy this movie.

I'll get one or two more movies in this afternoon and call it quits. Then tonight, I'll rewatch the original Halloween and Halloween II for the holiday.

Oct. 30:

Films:

Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) 1/2

Well, only one more day to go in the Challenge. We received Dracula via NetFlix this week; I think this will be a really fun and perhaps fitting film with which to end this year's Challenge.

We've watched three or four films and/or shows in my list more than once.  They are only counted once, but sometimes our children really want to see some of their favorites again and again.

Update:

Films:

01. The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) 1/2
02. Burnt Offerings (1976)
03. R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour (2007) 1/2
04. The Three Stooges ("We Want Our Mummy") (1939) 1/2
05. The Three Stooges ("Spook Louder") (1943)
06. The Three Stooges ("Hot Scots") (1948)
07. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) 1/2
08. Games (1967)
09. The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
10. Halloweentown (1998)
11. The Screaming Skull (1958) 1/2
12. Tales of Terror (1962)
13. Halloweentown II (Kalabar's Revenge) (2001)
14. The Fly (1958)
15. Them! (1954) 1/2
16. Signs (2002) 1/2
17. Halloweentown High (2004) 1/2
18. Return To Halloweentown (2006)
19. Revenge Of the Creature (1955)
20. The Bad Seed (1956)
21. The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) 1/2
22. Mostly Ghostly: Who Let the Ghosts Out? (2008)
23. The Three Stooges ("If A Body Meets A Body") (1945)
24. The Three Stooges ("The Ghost Talks") (1949) 1/2
25. The Haunted Mansion (2003) 1/2
26. Tower of Terror (1997) 1/2
27. The Giant Gila Monster (1959) 1/2
28. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
29. Frankenstein (1931)
30. House On Haunted Hill (1959)
31. The Blob (1958) 1/2
32. Return of the Fly (1959) 1/2
33. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
34. Scooby Doo (2002) 1/2
35. I Bury the Living (1958)
36. The Hand (1960)
37. Curse of the Fly (1965) 1/2
38. The Wasp Woman (1959)
39. The Giant Leeches (1959) 1/2
40. Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) 1/2

Television episodes:

01. The Avengers ("Castle De'ath") (1965)
02. Charmed ("From Here To Eternity") (1999)
03. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("A Night of Fright Is No Delight") (1969) 1/2
04. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("That's Snow Ghost") (1969) 1/2
05. Mr. Monk Goes Home Again (2005)
06. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
07. Dark Shadows (Episode no. 78) (1966)
08. Dark Shadows (Episode no. 79) (1966)
09. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("Bedlam In the Big Top") (1969) 1/2

10. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! ("Scooby-Doo, and a Mummy Too") (1969) 1/2

11. Wizards of Waverly Place ("Franken-girl") (2009)

12. The Waltons ("Ghost Story") (1974)

13. 7th Heaven ("Halloween") (1996) 1/2
14. Jonas ("The Tale of the Haunted Firehouse") (2009)
15. Charmed ("All Halliwell's Eve") (2000)
16. The Nightmare Room ("Camp Nowhere" pts. 1 and 2; "Don't Forget Me"; "Full Moon Halloween") (2002)
17. Wizards of Waverly Place ("Monster Hunter") (2009)
18. Strawberry Shortcake ("Moonlight Mysteries") (2005) 1/2
19. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 46) (1966)
20. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 47) (1966)
21. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 48) (1966) 1/2
22. Dark Shadows (Original series) (episode no. 49) (1966)
23. The Nightmare Room ("My Name Is Evil"; "Scareful What You Wish For"; "Tangled Web"; "Fear Games") (2002)
24. Zoey 101 ("Haunted House") (2005) 1/2
Edited by Ockeghem - 11/1/09 at 12:24pm

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
 

E. Elias Merhige
 

Fictionalized account of the making of 1922's NOSFERATU features John Malkovich as the legendary German director F.W. Murnau.  In the film, Murnau thinks he has found the perfect actor to play the lead role but soon he begins to think that Max Shreck (Willem Dafoe) is a real vampire.  I've heard about this movie ever since it came out but only now got to it.  I must say that while watching the thing I couldn't help but feel it was slightly overrated but at the same time the movie is certainly unlike any other docu-drama out there.  Unlike ED WOOD and GODS AND MONSTERS, this film here deals with nothing but fiction so I was curious as to what the whole point was of the movie.  You'd think that it was just a spoof but that's not true because a lot of the film plays the subject matter rather straight, although I have to think that somewhere this was just meant to be a fun picture.  There are many impressive things here including the overall look of the film, which manages to really get your into the making of the original film with some incredible looking sets and costumes.  Another major plus is that scenes from the original film are perfectly blended in with the "new" footage and it's rather uncanny how great they mix together and I'm sure many people won't be able to tell the different between the two.  It was rather fun seeing Murnau directing various famous scenes of the movie even though everything being said probably didn't happen.  As far as the performances go, they are for the most part very impressive.  Malkovich is pretty laid back in the role of Murnau but he doesn't manage to shine in the scenes where he's begging his actor not to kill members of the film.  The entire film clearly belongs to Dafoe who does a wonderful job and certainly deserved his Oscar nomination.  What I loved most is that Dafoe captured the silent acting during the scenes outside the making of the original film.  Just watch the sequence on the ship when he kills a man and it's pretty haunting at how close Dafoe captures the acting that would have been done back in the 20s.  Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard and Udo Kier round out the cast.  Again, I'm really not sure what the point of this movie was but for the most part it's entertaining.  They say all docu-dramas need fiction in order to be entertaining from start to finish but here's one without any truths and it's certainly different than anything we've seen before.
 

Halloween (1978)
 

John Carpenter
 

It's hard to believe its been thirty-years since this thing popped onto screens and it's even harder to believe all the countless imitators that have followed.  It's hard to do so now but if you clear the needless remake out of your mind and the various plot twists that would follow in all the sequels, this film remains incredibly true to form and hasn't lost one bit of its power.  The story is pretty simple as Michael Myers returns to his hometown fifteen years after killing his sister and begins to stalk three babysitters.  Such a simple plot line yet this film is the perfect example of not needing money to make some terrific and in the end this film remains one of the greatest horror films ever made.  I've always loved the bit from Roger Ebert's review where he quotes Hitchcock as saying he loves to play an audience like playing a piano.  That's pretty much what Carpenter does here as we haven't an idea why The Shape is stalking these girls or even what he is exactly.  This entire mysterious form would be lost due to various elements of sequels but, again, it's best to put those elements out of your mind if you can.  Carpenter's mastery behind the camera can be seen early on with the brilliant opening sequence that takes us from outside the house, to the murder upstairs and then back outside.  This is a now classic sequence and it still holds up well today.  The middle sequence of the film is perfectly written for us to get to know the characters but I love how Carpenter also uses it to build up the atmosphere of it being Halloween.  The various pumpkins, the horror movies on television and even something as simple as the leaves falling perfectly puts us in the mood for everything that's going to follow.  Then there's the final fifteen-minutes, which are just downright brilliantly executed and I'd say some of the best moments the genre has to offer.  There's enough suspense in this sequence for two films but the same Carpenter builds everything up when The Shape is walking across the street with Jamie Lee Curtis' character pounding on the door is remarkably done.  The performances by the entire cast are top-notch as everyone from Curtis to Nancy Loomis and P.J. Soles fit their roles wonderfully well.  Then there's Donald Pleasence turning in a now legendary performance in the role that he will always be remembered for (which is saying a lot when you look at how many wonderful films he was in).  I love the way you can read his eyes to feel everything that he's feeling and the way he delivers the lines are top-notch.  Then we have the terrific music score by Carpenter, which is scary enough on its own without anything we then see in the movie.  Thirty-years later many, many films have come along with the same formula but nothing has ever come close to capturing the power of this film.
 

Zaat (1975)
 

Don Barton
 

Insane horror film has had many call it one of the worst ever made but something this entertaining can't be called the worst of anything.  Well, perhaps the actual story is the worst idea in the history of cinema but this leads to quite a bit of fun.  A silly scientist is tired of having people make fun of him over his ideas so he decides the world would be a better place if fish ran it.  The dumb doctor injects himself with some sort of formula and then takes a bath in a tank, which transforms him into a walking catfish.  Okay, who in their right mind thought a movie about a walking catfish would be scary?  If you enjoy films like ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES, CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURES or various other drive-in stuff then you might find yourself enjoying this mess even though it's pretty bad from start to finish.  For the life of me I can't understand a single thing about this movie as the entire "lets turn myself into a fish" routine never makes sense nor does his entire plan for kidnapping women to mate with.  What's even dumber is that a film like this would need the running time of 100-minutes, which is the real reason one wouldn't be able to laugh at this thing even more.  Had twenty or so minutes been cut then I'm sure more people would look at this sucker as some sort of cult classic but the thing just keeps going on and on and includes a rather bizarre and worthless scene of hippies singing songs before being led to jail for their safety.  The monster outfit looks incredibly silly but it'll certainly stay in your mind after viewing the film.  Whereas most low budget movies keep the monster hidden away, thankfully that's not the case here as he shows up by the ten-minute mark and never leaves the screen for more than a couple of minutes.  At least the director knew to give us the monster throughout.  This movie is currently in IMDB's Bottom 10 list, which is a bit too rough on a film like this.  It might not have a budget, any good actors or a good looking monster but it still remains entertaining just because how silly it is.  Fans of "Z" grade horror films should get a kick out of this thing so for them it would be recommended.
 

074) 10/30/2009 Night of the Creeps - The Director's Cut (1986)

Space parasites land on earth in 1959 and are frozen, get thawed out in 1986, and are let loose on a college campus.  They feed on brains and multiply.  Really enjoyable combination of horror and '50s sci-fi thrillers features great effects and spot-on performances, especially Tom Akins as the investigating detective who has his own secret to hide.  Witty dialogue and engaging characters make the horror stuff work very well.

075) 10/30/2009 The Stepfather (1987) 1/2

Everything works in this thriller about a psychopath who marries widows or divorcees with children hoping for the perfect family.  When they ultimately disappoint him, he kills them, changes his identity, and looks for another family.  Terry O'Quinn deservedly gets praise for his performance of the demented Ward Cleaver, but script and direction deserve credit too.  A film that actually improves with each viewing.

076) 10/30/2009 The Stepfather 2: Make Room For Daddy (1989) 1/2

The Stepfather escapes from a psychiatric hospital and sets up shop posing as a deceased psychologist, whose neighbors include a divorcee and her son.  His mail lady suspects something's not right about him.  O'Quinn is back and in fine form.  But the novelty is gone and the film isn't nearly as inventive or surprising as the original.  Fast pace helps.

The Thing from Another World (1951)

I took another shot at this so-called "classic" that must have come off stronger in its heyday. While so-so and certainly not a bad film, today it feels like one of any number of sci-fi '50s flicks that came along after it. THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD remains one of the most incredibly overrated movies in history for me. Although the on screen directorial credit is given to Christian Nyby, it's been long believed that Howard Hawks (who produced) had a hand in it. I firmly believe that it's because of Hawks' involvement that this thing enjoys such bizarre praise, despite that it's so undeserving. Maybe some of its acclaim also has to do with figuring in that this was the first real "flying saucer/space monster" sci-fi film to come out of the 1950s.

There's very little going on when we're not presented with a lot of talking heads
and overly-analytical

dialogue. The movie thinks it's intelligent, but it's hard to keep a straight face while watching learned scientists and soldiers seriously discuss a vegetable creature that's like a living and thinking carrot but resembles Yul Brynner, yet don't wonder how it managed to wear clothing and shoes. This monster can behave brutally at times (its attack on the dogs is one merciful high point), but he's also pretty pedestrian looking for a living carrot man. None of the characters are particularly interesting or likable, from Ken Tobey's perfunctory captain, to the wise-cracking commentator, and the over-protective doctor. There's also a girlfriend thrown in for good measure, but she leaves no impression despite a lightweight "bondage" scene that was restored for the DVD but serves no purpose and was better off missing to keep the movie shorter. If there was ever a remake that surpassed its original while remaining closer to its source, it was John Carpenter's 1982 version, which was a truer adaptation of John Campbells' 1938 novella entitled "Who Goes There?" and was superior to this film in every way.
Edited by Joe Karlosi - 10/31/09 at 10:24am

Joe,

Your write-up intrigues me.  I don't own this film, but since you mentioned that "... it feels like one of any number of sci-fi '50s flicks that came along after it," then maybe this was the first of its kind in that specific genre?  If so, all the more reason for me to pick it up. :)

And that 250-pack still beckons me....

 Perfect Creature (2006) 

Intriguing and very original version of the vampire mythos. In this story vampires and humans co-exist together with the vampires part of the brotherhood in service to the weaker humans. Some humans in payment donate their blood which is of course utilized by the vampires. This symbiotic-like relationship has been going on for some time with no deaths in the human population at the hands of a vampire for over 300 hundred years. An infected rogue vampire goes off on a killing spree spreading a deadly virus to the people he bites. The brotherhood sends Silus to rain in this infected vampire, prevent the spread of disease so that the old hatreds of human vs. vampire does not return. 

This film has a certain look which is both dark and menacing and stylish. By the looks of the vehicles I would put this  film pre-war London though it could be later. Kudos to the art director for the look of this film. Most of the acting was good here except for perhaps a couple of the actors that came off as wooden. This film had quite a different feel and look for a vampire movie and to quote my daughter " it was cool." Highly recommended.

 Amityville Curse (1990) no stars

Dreadful script, dreadful acting and they didn't even use the same house. This was a big waste of time. 

End of Days (1999)

Not as entertaining as the first time I saw it but enjoyable enough for a mild pass. Arnie certainly had the physicality that the role requires and Gabriel Byrne makes a great Satan but the majority of the film is mediocre at best.

The Ghost Ship (1943)

This is the only one of the Val Lewton produced "horror" films that I hadn't seen yet, but the title is misleading; it turned out to be not truly a horror film, but rather a drama with some freaky occurrences. The story centers on a kindly young Third Officer named Tom Merriam (Russell Wade, who I've enjoyed so much in Lewton's THE BODY SNATCHER) who gets a position aboard a ship alongside Captain Stone (Richard Dix), an odd commander with a driving penchant for authority. Merriam becomes suspicious of Stone when strange goings on begin to transpire under his command, and the young man begins to suspect his captain of murder. But convincing the officials and the rest of the loyal crew of his beliefs is not easy, and puts his own life at risk. While enjoyable enough, I didn't think this feature quite hit the mark as a "good" picture, and for a Val Lewton film it seemed to lack the subtle cinematic style these movies are so well-known for. Russell Wade was fine and much like the good-natured type of soul he played in THE BODY SNATCHER, but as the infrequently deranged captain, Richard Dix seemed a bit too inconsistent. The crater-faced Skelton Knaggs, a recognizable presence in so many mysterious '40s films, has a small but good part as a mute deckhand.    

The Fly (1958) 

I only saw bits and pieces of the re-make because the original freaked me out so much. I can still hear " help me, help me" as the spider is ready to pounce on the human fly. Yikes!
Vincent Price had a small part here. For some reason I thought I remembered him as a bad guy in this movie. So much for memory.

I agree wholeheartedly. I blindly bought all eight Ghost House releases last year, based on Sam Raimi's endorsement alone. I really enjoyed the first two I watched, Dance of the Dead and No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker, and thought I'd stuck horror gold with the series. Then all of the other six sucked horribly (though I did rather enjoy Dark Floors until the awful ending) and, as a result, I've stayed far away from the four new titles released in the series this year.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)  A

The best film so far my horror challenge this year; how appropriate that it fell on Halloween.

A devout young woman, Emily Rose (an incredible Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter), leaves her rural home and goes to college in the big city. There, she seems to be attacked by a demonic spirit. At first, she's able to resist and seeks medical attention for what everyone assumes must be a physical illness. However, Emily eventually comes to believe she's possessed and seeks an exorcism by the church. Eventually, her ailment leads to her death and the priest (Tom Wilkinson) who performed the exorcism is put on trial for negligent homicide, prosecuted by a self-professed "man of faith" (Campbell Scott) and defended by a wavering agnostic (Laura Linney).

I'd put off watching this film for a long time, thinking it was going to be just another cheap Exorcist knock-off. Wow, hardly a knock-off, I think this gives that horror classic a serious run for its money. Good drama, good scares, amazingly horrific performance by Jennifer Carpenter. I actually had shivers running down my neck/spine during a couple of the possession scenes, that almost never happens to me during a horror film. This film actually accomplished the impossible for me, enjoying a performance by Laura Linney. That's also probably a reason I've avoided watching the film as Linney's performances generally irritate me. But I really enjoyed her character in this film.

The Unborn (2009)  D

Casey Beldon suddenly begins having odd dreams and hallucinations about a demonic looking boy with blue eyes. Lots of cheap jump scares and a couple of decent unsettling FX moments, but overall pretty poorly done. Kind of odd to see a few well-known actors attached to this, such as Gary Oldman, Idris Elba, Carla Gugino, and Cam Gigandet. But I suppose they were lured by the reputation of writer/director David Goyer who has written a number of well-received films (Blade, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), but stumbles badly here.