Last year a few friends and I outlined a story and were working on a horror movie script about a small town besieged by Krampus. At the time of its inception it was a surprisingly untapped horror resource. Shortly after, I heard Fangoria reporting from the American Film Market that Krampus will surely be the next trend as several production companies were shopping Krampus scripts. They mentioned that both Kevin Smith and Michael Dougherty were each aiming to make their own Krampus movies. The Dougherty one grabbed my attention because I loved Trick 'r Treat. It's one of the best movies of the past fifteen years and just perfectly nails the tone and feel of what I wanted from a movie about my favorite holiday.
I enjoyed Krampus, but I didn't love it. It might not be fair to compare it to Trick 'r Treat, but I feel justified since it's the same director doing a holiday themed horror movie. Admittedly, Trick 'r Treat is going to be a hard act to follow for anybody and I really hope that they don't stumble with its sequel. I found it surprising that in Trick 'r Treat's shorter segments Dougherty was better able to convey complete mythologies than in a feature length movie dedicated to one story.
The best way I can describe Krampus is that it feels like a very slick, well-made Full Moon production along with a touch of the mischievousness of Gremlins. It has a certain Charles Band feel to parts of it. And I certainly mean that as a compliment. It would have made a very nice late 90s VHS rental.
There are some excellent visuals and the opening credits were especially fun as we see slo-mo Black Friday shoppers doing what they do while juxtaposed with a soundtrack of Christmas carols. It's good, fun, snowy Christmas horror. Check it out!
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Thursday, September 17, 2015
I LIKE GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN
With Fall approaching and bringing with it the Halloween season, I decided to dust off this blog again. I am going to try to cover all the horror movies I watch this season. Every year I rev up for All Hallow's Eve with weeks and weeks of horror movies. This year should be no different! I already started, inadvertently, by catching Motel Hell the last week. So let's get the 2015 Spooky Views underway!
Motel Hell is a cult classic that I appreciate more as an older viewer than I did as a teenager. It's also the second most notable aspect of Rory Calhoun's career (number one, of course, is being Mr. Burns' gold standard of someone/something standing and walking).
Back in my collecting days I used to have a great "big box" version of this movie on VHS put out by MGM. I grabbed it from an old video store's stock based solely on the art work. At the time, I was too preoccupied with the unbelievability of the love story between Farmer Vincent and Terry and I didn't see the camp and the humor as much as I do now. There are parts of this movie that feel like John Waters-doing-Tobe-Hooper. It's just so weird that it's appealing.
Rory Calhoun's Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida (played with grinning insanity by Nancy Parsons) run the Motel Hello but the pesky neon "O" at the end of their sign keeps flickering out. They also sell Farmer Vincent's Fritters and assorted smoked meat products. They are just so tasty! What could his secret ingredient be? "It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters!"
The ending still hold up. The iconic image of this movie is that of Farmer Vincent wearing a pig's head and wielding a chainsaw. If you see that picture on the back of a VHS you need to rent that bad boy!
Meat's Meat and Man's Gotta Eat!
It was better than I had remembered and both Rory Calhoun and Nancy Parsons seem to be having such a fun time that it draws you in to the weird world of the Motel Hello. I am leaving out a lot of the strange details but just check it out. I think the less you know, the more perplexing and enjoyable your viewing will be. My arbitrary rating today is three and a half Rory Calhouns out of five.
This is one I've seen a million times and it never gets old. The zombies look great, the gore is fantastic, bleak humor permeates, and it's got a great soundtrack. And, if the internet is to be believed, it was Return of the Living Dead that introduced the concept of the brain eating zombie to our wonderful world. It's so strange to think that before 1985 zombies never cried out into the night for delicious brains.
It's a classic. Arbitrary rating: 13 graveyard ghoulies out of 13!
I had actually never seen It's Alive before so this was a treat. Basically a woman gives birth to a horrible monster-baby with claws and fangs. I think the best thing about this movie is that everyone gets onboard immediately. After the birth the delivery room is full of dead doctors and nurses and the baby is missing. There is blood everywhere. People have been mauled. And everybody's first thought is: hey, this must be the work of some hideous monster baby. No one thinks that maybe some crazy murderer stole the baby or any number of other possible scenarios.
John P. Ryan really digs into his role as the father of this abomination. Ryan really won me over with his villainous turn in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. Ever since I saw his performance in that my interest is always piqued when I spot him in something I am watching.
I enjoyed this as a trashy low budget late night shocker. I will definitely be seeking out the sequels as well. I've got to find out what further adventures and hijinks a deformed monster-baby can get himself into. Today's arbitrary rating gives It's Alive 462 baby fangs out of 689.
Most likely due to the enormous success of Mad Max: Fury Road, Wyrmwood is being marketed as "Mad Max meets Zombies." that description kind of works. It's definitely fun if you like action heavy zombie movies. It feels kind of like two movies pieced together, and since it was filmed over four years on weekends that may actually be the case. It is an impressive example of perseverance, ingenuity, and desire by creative filmmakers. There are some great stylish flairs and unique moments. Overall very fun but it's missing something that I haven't quite been able to put my finger on. I'll arbitrarily rate it 8 zombie mouth farts out of 11. Check it out!
Let's see if I can keep this up. Hopefully I'll check back in soon with some more. I am definitely ready for the Fall to get here. I need some crunchy leaves underfoot.
Motel Hell is a cult classic that I appreciate more as an older viewer than I did as a teenager. It's also the second most notable aspect of Rory Calhoun's career (number one, of course, is being Mr. Burns' gold standard of someone/something standing and walking).
Back in my collecting days I used to have a great "big box" version of this movie on VHS put out by MGM. I grabbed it from an old video store's stock based solely on the art work. At the time, I was too preoccupied with the unbelievability of the love story between Farmer Vincent and Terry and I didn't see the camp and the humor as much as I do now. There are parts of this movie that feel like John Waters-doing-Tobe-Hooper. It's just so weird that it's appealing.
Rory Calhoun's Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida (played with grinning insanity by Nancy Parsons) run the Motel Hello but the pesky neon "O" at the end of their sign keeps flickering out. They also sell Farmer Vincent's Fritters and assorted smoked meat products. They are just so tasty! What could his secret ingredient be? "It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters!"
The ending still hold up. The iconic image of this movie is that of Farmer Vincent wearing a pig's head and wielding a chainsaw. If you see that picture on the back of a VHS you need to rent that bad boy!
It was better than I had remembered and both Rory Calhoun and Nancy Parsons seem to be having such a fun time that it draws you in to the weird world of the Motel Hello. I am leaving out a lot of the strange details but just check it out. I think the less you know, the more perplexing and enjoyable your viewing will be. My arbitrary rating today is three and a half Rory Calhouns out of five.
This is one I've seen a million times and it never gets old. The zombies look great, the gore is fantastic, bleak humor permeates, and it's got a great soundtrack. And, if the internet is to be believed, it was Return of the Living Dead that introduced the concept of the brain eating zombie to our wonderful world. It's so strange to think that before 1985 zombies never cried out into the night for delicious brains.
It's a classic. Arbitrary rating: 13 graveyard ghoulies out of 13!
I had actually never seen It's Alive before so this was a treat. Basically a woman gives birth to a horrible monster-baby with claws and fangs. I think the best thing about this movie is that everyone gets onboard immediately. After the birth the delivery room is full of dead doctors and nurses and the baby is missing. There is blood everywhere. People have been mauled. And everybody's first thought is: hey, this must be the work of some hideous monster baby. No one thinks that maybe some crazy murderer stole the baby or any number of other possible scenarios.
John P. Ryan really digs into his role as the father of this abomination. Ryan really won me over with his villainous turn in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. Ever since I saw his performance in that my interest is always piqued when I spot him in something I am watching.
I enjoyed this as a trashy low budget late night shocker. I will definitely be seeking out the sequels as well. I've got to find out what further adventures and hijinks a deformed monster-baby can get himself into. Today's arbitrary rating gives It's Alive 462 baby fangs out of 689.
Most likely due to the enormous success of Mad Max: Fury Road, Wyrmwood is being marketed as "Mad Max meets Zombies." that description kind of works. It's definitely fun if you like action heavy zombie movies. It feels kind of like two movies pieced together, and since it was filmed over four years on weekends that may actually be the case. It is an impressive example of perseverance, ingenuity, and desire by creative filmmakers. There are some great stylish flairs and unique moments. Overall very fun but it's missing something that I haven't quite been able to put my finger on. I'll arbitrarily rate it 8 zombie mouth farts out of 11. Check it out!
Let's see if I can keep this up. Hopefully I'll check back in soon with some more. I am definitely ready for the Fall to get here. I need some crunchy leaves underfoot.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
I LIKE THE WILLIES
Many moons ago, my friend Ed and I rented this on VHS and even then it was at least ten years after its prime. Somehow neither of us fairly horror-knowledgable gents had heard of it before, but the box was luring us in with a picture of Donkey Lips from "Salute Your Shorts" screaming and wearing pajamas in a bed full of creepy crawlies. Add to that the promise of campfire spook stories that would give us the titular Willies and it became a "must rent."
I remember we enjoyed it and I probably applauded the presence of James Karen. I kind of forgot the details about it shortly after, however. So it was a real treat to spot this for $1.99 at Kmart while I was killing time and perusing their Halloween stuff.
It's an anthology of gross-out stories framed around three cousins telling each other tall tales and urban legends while camping. Imagine Creepshow with a tenth of the budget and aimed at nine your olds and you'll be on the right path.
It was written and directed by Brian Peck, who, according to a quick IMDB search, played Scuz in Return of the Living Dead. So I guess that explains the appearances by Clu Gulager and James Karen. I'm also 99% sure I briefly spotted the cable repair dreamboat from Return of the Living Dead Part II in one of the opening segments. Other highlights include a cameo by Growing Pains' Kirk Cameron, a monster on a toilet, a deep fried rat, a grade school bully in an Iron Maiden t-shirt, Donkey Lips, a dog in a microwave, and that old man from Home Alone who doesn't want to sell Mrs. McCallister a plane ticket because his wife already has earrings ("long, dangly ones").
Bill Erwin. His name is Bill Erwin.
What a cool Old Man name. Bill Erwin. I bet he was never young.
Well, I guess that's my story about The Willies.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
I LIKE OCTOBER
It's getting close to October and that means it is Halloween season! I figured I would dust off this old blog and try to get back into the practice of writing, even if it is just about the stupid crap that I get excited about as Halloween approaches.
One of my favorite things about Halloween time is that I can indulge in horror movie marathons without seeming as crazy as I do when I watch a glut of horror movies in front of the Xmas tree or while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and SPF50. Plus, there's something about that chill in the autumn air after a hot summer along with the sound of crisp dead leaves scraping the sidewalks that just make horror movies feel more at home.
In addition to the two Horror marathons I plan on hitting next month (Somerville Theater and Coolidge Corner are each hosting 12 hour fests), I wanted to up my at-home intake as well. I think I will start by revisiting the Saw series since this will be the fourth Saw-less October after being spoiled with a seven year stretch of annual mayhem.
Back in 2004 this poster was all I really knew about the movie I was going to see. I think there had also been an intriguing trailer, but the poster was unique and grossly provocative. In retrospect, with seven films under its belt, it must be difficult for a new viewer to go into the first Saw with any sincerity but I assure you that it delivered on its initial release. It was scary and it was original and that is the most you can ask of any horror movie. Its visual cues and set design harken back to David Fincher's Se7en but in a respectful rather than plagiaristic way. Each subsequent October for six years we got a new one and the jaded and cynical got a new punchline by the tail end of the run. But the reason the franchise was able to endure was this first movie. It set the tone. It set the traps. It set the twists. It set the gears in motion.
I distinctly remember the morning after seeing a late night showing when it came out. I was explaining the premise to my mother. The best way I could explain it was that the most disturbing thing about the movie was that somebody thought it up. I was so impressed, and a little concerned, that this twisted world was in somebody's head. But that was the important step for the series. Now the groundwork had been laid. It was easy now to let ideas flow and talk with friends about what would make a sick trap in a sequel. The inertia had been overcome and we would get six more installments that would redirect their efforts toward more graphic violence and more creative mechanisms of bodily harm.
Some people forget that the series started with some genuinely well done suspense and a relatively restrained use of gore (compared to what would come later) considering the subject matter. A great example of this is the scene in Adam's apartment. The power is out and he can only see in brief bursts of his camera flash. I remember sitting in the theater listening to high pitch of the flash charging and waiting to see what was in the darkness in front of him. In the closet. It's one of my favorite scenes throughout the entire series.
The iconic imagery of that creepy as hell doll, the pig mask, the mysterious robed Jigsaw, it all had potential for costumes, decorations, . . . sequels!
Saw has actually weathered the passage of time pretty well. Carey Elwes' acting is still unintentionally funny and it does have a low budget feel that helps at times and hinders at others.
Well, I think I'll go pop in Saw 2. I'm looking forward to watching these again. I remember particularly enjoying the Jigsaw backstory in the later sequels. I'll chime in here once in awhile with my thoughts on movies people saw ten years ago.
Thanks for reading!
One of my favorite things about Halloween time is that I can indulge in horror movie marathons without seeming as crazy as I do when I watch a glut of horror movies in front of the Xmas tree or while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and SPF50. Plus, there's something about that chill in the autumn air after a hot summer along with the sound of crisp dead leaves scraping the sidewalks that just make horror movies feel more at home.
In addition to the two Horror marathons I plan on hitting next month (Somerville Theater and Coolidge Corner are each hosting 12 hour fests), I wanted to up my at-home intake as well. I think I will start by revisiting the Saw series since this will be the fourth Saw-less October after being spoiled with a seven year stretch of annual mayhem.
Back in 2004 this poster was all I really knew about the movie I was going to see. I think there had also been an intriguing trailer, but the poster was unique and grossly provocative. In retrospect, with seven films under its belt, it must be difficult for a new viewer to go into the first Saw with any sincerity but I assure you that it delivered on its initial release. It was scary and it was original and that is the most you can ask of any horror movie. Its visual cues and set design harken back to David Fincher's Se7en but in a respectful rather than plagiaristic way. Each subsequent October for six years we got a new one and the jaded and cynical got a new punchline by the tail end of the run. But the reason the franchise was able to endure was this first movie. It set the tone. It set the traps. It set the twists. It set the gears in motion.
I distinctly remember the morning after seeing a late night showing when it came out. I was explaining the premise to my mother. The best way I could explain it was that the most disturbing thing about the movie was that somebody thought it up. I was so impressed, and a little concerned, that this twisted world was in somebody's head. But that was the important step for the series. Now the groundwork had been laid. It was easy now to let ideas flow and talk with friends about what would make a sick trap in a sequel. The inertia had been overcome and we would get six more installments that would redirect their efforts toward more graphic violence and more creative mechanisms of bodily harm.
Some people forget that the series started with some genuinely well done suspense and a relatively restrained use of gore (compared to what would come later) considering the subject matter. A great example of this is the scene in Adam's apartment. The power is out and he can only see in brief bursts of his camera flash. I remember sitting in the theater listening to high pitch of the flash charging and waiting to see what was in the darkness in front of him. In the closet. It's one of my favorite scenes throughout the entire series.
The iconic imagery of that creepy as hell doll, the pig mask, the mysterious robed Jigsaw, it all had potential for costumes, decorations, . . . sequels!
Saw has actually weathered the passage of time pretty well. Carey Elwes' acting is still unintentionally funny and it does have a low budget feel that helps at times and hinders at others.
Well, I think I'll go pop in Saw 2. I'm looking forward to watching these again. I remember particularly enjoying the Jigsaw backstory in the later sequels. I'll chime in here once in awhile with my thoughts on movies people saw ten years ago.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
I LIKE BEAVIS IN THE BACKGROUND: THE LOST YEARS
I was cleaning out my phone and forgot I had been sitting on another batch of Beavis in the Background pics from months ago!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
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