Catching Up I am actually SO happy that I decided to make this one a part of my Halloween Special. It had been about 13 years since I last watched it through, and I remember appreciating it back then as well. I might add that this is only my second time watching it. It's interesting that this never wrapped itself around my mind as a horror classic, but it totally is, in every sense of the word. On top of everything it has to offer, it's book-ended by a Halloween-themed narrative in which an angry father gives his kid a bit of hell about a "trashy" comic book he was reading called 'Creepshow'. He takes it, throws it in the trash, and it presents itself to the audience, thereby showing us what the kid was reading, and the probable reason his jerk father chucked it. This was 1982, so there was still a bit of that old fashioned parenting going around. A father tossing out a perfectly good horror comic wasn't exactly a surprise if you ever heard of it. Once the film gets itself going, we are treated to five short tales of terror. 'Father's Day' consists of an angry zombie looking for his Father's Day cake. 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill' features Stephen King himself as a lone redneck who gets himself into a bad weed-growth situation. 'Something to Tide You Over' involves an interestingly cast revenge story. 'The Crate' features a really cheesy looking, blood-thirsty puppet, and speaks to those people who are overruled by their significant others. Last but not least, 'They're Creeping Up On You' is a bottle short about a bitter old dude with a bad roach problem. I could go into more detail on these, but I'd rather just give you enough to grab your attention. Some of the shorts are better than others, but they were all created by an interesting team up. While King did the writing for this, it was directed by the late, great George A. Romero. I mean, how is that NOT a horror dream team? 'The Crate' and 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill' are both based on short stories that had already been written by Stephen King. Him starring as Jordy Verill adds a sort of passionate layer to that particular short as well. And may I say, King can really act his ass off when he's passionate about it. It's not an Oscar-worthy performance or anything, but it is off the wall and goofy. He creates a real character with it. Other more famous actors show up here including Leslie Nielson, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, and E.G. Marshall, giving way to a pretty flexible cast. On top of that, this movie (at least in some areas) serves as living proof that a lot of the practical effects of back then hold up BETTER than the CG of recent years. My favorite in particular is this guy who shows up just before the movie starts to take off. From there, it fades into animation, and a lot of the twists and turns that take place throughout the story do the same. It really does end up as though you're watching a comic book unfold before your eyes - BEFORE digital comics were a thing! If you're looking to get into the Halloween mood with something that's creepy and dark, but not entirely scary and disturbing, this is a GREAT title for it! It's a bit cheesy for this day and age, but in it's case, the cheese is definitely part of the fun (as it is with most 80's horror). I would actually highly recommend this to anyone looking to throw a Halloween party as well. Have the music going, but leave this on your TV as a visual stimulant for the occasion. It's a lot of fun, and it's just the right tone for the season. Although this is my first time watching it in so long, I can honestly say that this will become a new Halloween viewing tradition for myself, right up there with 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' 5/5
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Now Playing Truth be told, this week hasn't been the easiest of "narrow-downs" for my Halloween Special. As far as "Now Playing" reviews went, I had a couple of options. I could A) go see 'Flatliners' (the original plan), which has been rated so low it's almost stunning, or B) hop on the controversy train and check out 'mother!' After all, it's highly advertised as a horror/thriller, so it comes close enough to fitting my "Halloween theme"... I guess. I'm gonna go ahead and just say that of the movies I'm reviewing this month, this is by far the strangest as far as category goes. Anyway, I always enjoy the opportunity to check something really that's so split down the middle as far as reviews go. It's an ample opportunity to offer my own opinion within a sea of opinions that differ from one another. The thing is, at this point in the game, 'mother!' is about ready to leave theaters, and there's not a whole lot I can say that hasn't been said yet. On the surface, we have a happy couple played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. These guys already provide their own controversy by being so far apart in age, ignoring the "half your age plus 7" rule (27 and 48 at this point, respectively) BUT there's a reason for that, which I'll get to later. Anyway, it's essentially these two trying to live their lives in a beautiful home in the country. However, the house gets overtaken by unwanted visitors who tend to ignore Jennifer's every rule of the house. They have come from far and wide to praise Bardem as "The Poet"; a great writer. Meanwhile, Jennifer's just struggling to pull his attention away from his worshipers to focus on her, their solitude and happiness - especially after she gets pregnant. The whole thing moves pretty fast, it's really damn strange, and full of symbolism. Generally speaking, if one doesn't understand the symbolism, the movie's one big hot mess of WTF. I will tell you right now that I fully understand why it's so split down the middle, review-wise. Now, I won't go into depth on everything here, but one almost NEEDS to go into this movie with the following word in mind "Bible". Do that, and you'll probably figure it all out as it unfolds, AND it will give you some idea as to the reason for their age gap I mentioned before. Each of them represents a certain something. From there, it's up to you to decide whether or not it was good or bad. You're reading this, however, to see what my opinion is on the film. Well, I actually went into this knowing what it was all an allegory for, having seen and read a few reviews for it already. I'll give Aronofsky this - it was clever! Going in, knowing what I knew, I was able to piece together quite a lot of it. However, this is just one of those movies that I managed to get, but not fully enjoy. It has a certain respect from me, but that doesn't mean I actually liked it. If I went into this not knowing what I knew, I'd have been incredibly lost. I'm not altogether sure that I would have picked up on the right symbolism for myself Plus there's just some imagery here that's truly disturbing. If that's what Aronofsky was trying to do, fine, but that doesn't mean it's for me. Mr. Aronofsky has always been a sort of enigma of a director for yours truly. 'Requiem for a Dream' is full of disturbing imagery too, but I actually love that movie. 'Black Swan' was really strange and out there, but I thought it's symbolism was strong and I enjoyed it. 'mother!', I hate to say, feels preachy more than anything. The symbolism here is certainly clever, but he's really throwing his own messages about man's relationship with God and the Earth at us through the whole movie. It also just gets frustrating at times. There's something about people who don't listen that just boils my skin. It was actually the main reason I wasn't a fan of the first 'Paranormal Activity'. Stubborn attitudes just plain piss me off, and this movie is LOADED with it! To some, this movie will be a masterful work of art that invokes conversation, both negative and positive. To others' it's gonna be the hot mess of WTF that I had mentioned before. For me, I just think if you like Aronofsky, there's better titles to choose from. I won't fully bring this one down, because when it's all said and done, the symbolism here IS still clever. BUT it comes off as sort of pretentious this time around. My faith remains, however, that he'll come up with something else still artsy, but more enjoyable. 2/5 Screening Suggestion If you're a fan of that infamous horror slasher Michael Myers, then you MIGHT view 'Halloween III' as the WTF movie that never should have been. But should it really be disregarded so quickly and easily? Believe it or not, the 'Halloween' series was actually supposed to be a sort of anthology series, covering a different Halloween story with each chapter. The first two kicked it off as a two-parter, obviously both portraying Michael Myers, or as he was known back then, "The Shape". But unbeknownst to filmmakers John Carpenter and Deborah Hill, Michael Myers would quickly become a massive fan favorite, pretty much paving the way for the slasher horror of the 80s. He predates Freddy, Jason, Chucky, just about any horror icon you can think of, really. So by the time 'Halloween III' did come out, Myers was a huge name for the genre, and it was understandably a disappointment for the fans. Instead, the film centers on Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) who, one night, witnesses a rather robot-looking murder-suicide in his hospital. The victim was holding a Halloween mask, labelled "Silver Shamrock", so he and the victim's daughter, Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) go on their own little investigation to the Silver Shamrock factory. What they eventually uncover is a plot set up by a madman that will endanger the lives of many happy children, worldwide. Let's make one thing perfectly clear before I get into WHY I'm recommending this movie - I pretty much agree with the fact that, on the whole, this isn't exactly a good movie. It's full of cheesy acting, unlikable characters, bad dialogue, and of course that God forsaken "However Many More Says 'Til Halloween" song. This is the kind of movie I'm recommending for Halloween solely because it's simply not without some genuinely creepy horror aspects. The highlights of the film come from a few different areas. First, the deaths themselves are quite gruesome and all at once creepy. Then there's the villain, Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) giving a pretty magnificent performance, namely with his monologue about Halloween. Lastly, the film just ends on a great note that let's you know "it's not over" So, while I recommend this title for a bit of fun watching this Halloween, do keep in mind that I'm recommending this to a select few, and not just anyone. If you really love Halloween, get into the whole spirit of the holiday, and at the same time enjoy good-bad movies, then I feel like this could warrant a pretty pleasant surprise for you. If you simply can't take the idea of a 'Halloween' film without Michael Myers, no harm, no foul. It's pretty understandable. But if watched with the right mindset, 'Season of the Witch' can certainly be a fun and spooky, albeit cheesy ride. Under the Radar Here we have an overall strange independent comedy horror, centering on a sort of average loser type named Chris. On the eve of Halloween, he heads home from work and comes across a party invitation, fluttering by on the street. He picks it up, looks it through, and for whatever reason decides it's for him. I guess we're to assume that he's that desperate to make friends. He gets home, prepares for the party and heads out to the address on the card. It turns out that the "party" is taking place in a very shady part of town within the confines of some industrial building. As Chris enters and announces himself, complete with pumpkin loaf, it's quickly revealed that he made a horrible mistake. It turns out that the invitation was bait for some poor sucker like himself, leading to a group of twisted art students. He was there only to be murdered for the sake of their art. When it's all said and done, this is another horror comedy. However, despite it's funny moments, a lot of it unfortunately falls flat. There's just a couple of scenes here that make the film stop dead in it's tracks. Two big examples being a scene where the students inject themselves with truth serum, and sadly, the climax of the whole thing. The truth serum scene is a fair attempt to develop characters very quickly, but there was something about it that felt cheap. It was almost as if the movie crowbarred in the "confessions scene" from 'Breakfast Club'. The thing is, this was just a group I didn't find myself caring about at all. I honestly just wanted the movie to push forward. As for the climax - one long chase scene with various comedic obstacle that gets stale over time. If I had to guess, I'd say this was first a student film, and it managed to make it's way through various festivals, developing a bit of a cult following, and good for it for making it this far. For me, though, this just left me sort of numb by the end of it. It's the sort of thing that, to me, is a neat enough idea - it just needs to be remade into something with a little more production value and editing. The director of this, Jeremy Saulnier, actually went on to do 'Green Room'. I didn't see it, but it's my understanding that it was well-received. So, perhaps if you enjoyed that, you'd enjoy this, just based on directorial style. As I mentioned before, this film HAS managed to acquire a bit of a cult following. I actually stumbled on it's title while researching movies to watch for this Halloween Special of mine. It turns out that it's actually on quite a few "Halloween Movie Top 10" lists out there. So take my opinion with a grain of salt with this one, and check it out for yourself. It's still got some laughs, and some respectable makeup and practical effects, to it's credit. 2/5 Catching Up Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name (and apparently the first of his actual published books), this is another one of those cases where the movie became far more popular than the book. In a dark and somewhat twisted way, it became one giant screening of symbolism having to do with being the unpopular girl in school. As the movie opens, we meet Carrie Whie (Sissy Spacek) in the high school locker room where she is in the midst of enjoying an after-gym shower. Suddenly... well, womanhood happens, let's just say. She cries for help, but the girls all push her back into the shower, picking on her for doing what a woman does. It's a pretty brutal scene to watch, and almost instantaneously, you wanna see these girls get their comeuppance. The act leads to these shitty people receiving detention with their gym teacher, and the group of them decide on a massive revenge tactic that will involve setting Carrie up and knocking her down like never before. The plan involves rigging the prom so that Carrie wins the title of Prom Queen, and of course, dumping that bucket of pig's blood on her in an attempt to destroy her. Seriously, though, if that's a spoiler, you need to come out from under that rock. It's one of the most famous scenes in horror history. Anyway, these kids of course don't bank on Carrie having apparent telekinesis, which, without throwing too much your way, is what makes the whole movie worth it in the end - Carrie's revenge! But, in all honesty, I'd be lying if I said I fully enjoyed the movie. It may be because the ending is so out there and well-known, there wasn't much of a surprise to any of it. In fact, I was even let down by parts of it that were hyped up to be truly scary moments. One could almost take the 80's film 'Some Kind of Wonderful' to be a sort of reimagining of this story, but without the horror aspects of it and with the genders changed. Or even 'Cruel Intentions' for that edgier side of things. But it's a movie about trying to interfere in someone's life and make them miserable, which is a formula I've seen a few times already. In 'Carrie's defense, however, it predates anything else I've seen like it. So it does get some points for that. There's a nearly comedic aspect to this movie as well, in the form of face-slapping. It's meant to bbe taken as harsh and serious, I know, but seriously, I don't think I've ever seen so much of it in one movie. I double checked for a total of six, maybe seven if you count one done with a hat. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but for movie that's just over an hour and a half long, it feels excessive. It's like it's the primary solution to every problem. Anyway, I'm curious to watch the remake now, since this pretty much just felt dated to me, and 100% un-scary. But who knows? In the end, the '76 version might beat it on one thing, and one thing alone... Pre-'Grease' John Travolta is actually really funny to watch at times! 3/5 Now Playing 'Friend Request' opens by showing us how popular a girl named Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is, via her Facebook posts. It seems arguable that she must be the most popular girl in school, with her good looks, sweet personality and sense of humor. She manages to maintain her sweetness by approaching a lonely-looking outcast named Marina (Liesl Ahlers), talking to her a little bit, and accepting her Facebook friend request. Laura and her friends go through Marina's Facebook page only to reveal what appears to be the profile of a very disturbed individual. In keeping with her "Ms. Perfect" reputation, Laura brushes it all off as art, and maintains that Marina's just a misunderstood girl. That is until Marina goes off the deep end, obsessing over Laura being such a wonderful and beautiful person. She gets too close for comfort, so Laura decides not to allow her to come to her birthday celebration. The obsessiveness continues afterward, and eventually Laura deletes Marina, resulting in a horrific suicide. The aftermath is essentially a one-by-one mysterious murder spree. After each kill, footage of the event is posted to Laura's timeline; the real catch being that these people were all friends with her. It's all too easy to discover that these kills are happening from beyond the grave, as Marina's black-wasp-spewing evil demonic online presence is persistent through each of them. Her ultimate goal is to make Laura go from perfection to completely lonely - the exact same way Marina felt before someone was kind enough to talk to her. I actually have an interesting confession to make in that this was pretty much the first social media themed horror flick I've seen. Not that there's a whole hell of a lot to go on, but with that comes the fact that I don't fully realize whether or not this is ripping something else off. In my eyes, the concept here is actually kinda interesting. It's just not enough to save what is otherwise a very typical horror film. Person gets shunned, becomes evil presence that kills everyone - it's a formula that goes back to, at the very least, the 'Friday the 13th' films. Trust me when I say not a single death here comes as much of a surprise. You see it all coming, and the jump scares are mostly generally cheap, just to throw a scary face at you. The use of Facebook was fairly effective as something scary though, at least for me. The whole time, Marina is posting videos to Laura's Facebook, and she can't seem to do anything to take them down. Having my Facebook hacked WAS a very real situation for me at one point several years ago. It's a scary deal 'cause a lot of people will keep assuming it's you. Luckily, I had friends who stuck by me and knew better. But I still wonder to this day how many people this guy scared off, posing as me. The bottom line is, secure the shit out of your social media! However, as I mentioned before, this wasn't the first horror movie to use social media for it's story. So, even without seeing the other films like it, I can point out that the idea isn't exactly original. Really, watching it through, it's a lot of tropes you're used to in present day horror. To top it off, there's a twist at the end some may find neat. But honestly, if you don't see it coming, you haven't been paying attention. In the end, it feels like the kind of movie that should have just come straight to video. 2/5 Screening Suggestion Sometimes, for Halloween, you just don't feel like going the whole nine yards for horror. Often enough, the most fun movies to watch at Halloween are actually for the family. You have your obvious ones like 'Hocus Pocus', your fun, edgy ones like 'Monster Squad', and those classics like 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'. But here's one that not a lot of people seem to talk much about that I've always found to be a lot of fun. Hell, it was even nominated for a Best Animated Picture Oscar alongside 'Cars' and 'Happy Feet' (which won). The story begins here with an old crotchety man named Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) who seems to be forcefully shooing kids away from his property, and stealing their toys in the process. Once the deed is done, he heads back inside a very rickety looking old house. All the while, Nebbercracker's across-the-street neighbor, DJ (Mitchel Musso) is spying on him, trying to learn whatever he's up to by stealing these kids toys. One day, DJ and his best friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) are playing with Chowder's new basketball, which eventually ends up on Nebbercracker's lawn. Upon trying to retrieve it, however, DJ is grabbed by an angry Nebbercracker who, in turn, suffers a heart attack and is hauled away by an ambulance. Once that happens, things start to get a bit crazy as the house appears to have it's own evil soul, as it comes to life, seemingly eating up anyone who crosses it's property. This includes a girl named Jenny (Spencer Locke), who the boys catch almost getting eaten alive, but manage to save her. With the help of their new friend, DJ and Chowder take it upon themselves to check out what exactly is going on with the house. To the film's credit, the obvious actually doesn't end up being the answer either. It's not a mind-blowing twist or anything, but I have to admit the way they went with things was fairly unexpected. The animation here does, unfortunately, look rather painfully dated. The look of everything is seemingly pretty basic, including big, plastic-looking doll-like hair that doesn't move much, and somewhat creepy expressions from some of the characters. It's not bottom of the barrel or anything, but it's still fairly mediocre. However, the animation isn't what makes this movie so endearing. I think the biggest charm from this movie comes largely from the characters themselves. It's a movie that doesn't take itself very seriously, and you find yourself kinda having fun with this select group of kids. Chowder, though potentially irritating, does still have quite a few funny lines as the comedy relief. It's nice to see that the humor in this is not childish and just adult enough. Kinda like watching 'Animaniacs' - aimed at kids, but able to be enjoyed by adults all the same. To give it some perspective, though, let's take a look at all the talent that lies within this movie. The writers on this were none other than Dan Harmon ('Community', 'Rick & Morty'), Rob Schrabb ('The Sarah Silverman Program') and Pamela Pettler ('The Corpse Bride', '9'). It was directed by Gil Keanon, who would go on to do 'City of Ember' and the 'Poltergeist' remake, which I suppose isn't a hell of a lot to boast about. However, producers on it included the 'Back to the Future' team of Spielberg and Zemeckis. To top it all off, the supporting cast is loaded with voice talent including Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Kathleen Turner and Jon Heder. The fairest warning I can give you about this film is that you are sincerely just gonna have to throw reality out the window. There's a whole climactic sequence here that, while quite beautifully shot, makes no damn sense. Without spoilers, let's just say it'll make you wonder where the rest of the neighborhood ran off to, suddenly. But, this is just one of those movies you take as it is; Something fun to watch around Halloween. The overall concept is fairly original, and it has quite a few neat ideas, and the writing is often pretty hilarious. It makes for a nice, light, annual watch to get you into the Halloween spirit. Under the Radar Here we have a fairly intriguing entry from 1981, in the form of a made-for-TV horror film. It's pretty much television's answer to 'Friday the 13th Part 2', which was released the previous May. The film was released to the TV audience on October 24, and... no one really ever talks about it. This is probably due to the fact that it basically was like watching the entire 'Friday the 13th' concept all over again. Our story opens with Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake) picking flowers, and singing songs with a little girl named Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe). Understandably, to some local yokels, this grown man hanging around with this little girl is pretty damn creepy and suspicious. It also doesn't help that Bubba is mentally handicapped, giving the townspeople that cliched vibe of "well, he must be harmful as he's unpredictable". However, to the film's credit, it shows us just how very harmless this guy actually is. There's a point where she offers him a friendly kiss, but he seems to know better than to do anything stupid. He shies away from her, but you do get the impression he realizes the act of kissing her would be wrong. So, Bubba and Marylee start heading home, when they spot that one of the neighbors got a new fountain. Marylee wants to go check it out, but Bubba is afraid they'll get in trouble for going onto a property they're not supposed to. Marylee goes anyway, gets mauled by a dog, and Bubba returns to Marylee's house with her body. Of course, according to the townspeople, it's obvious Bubba must have killed her. This sparks the angry mob chase as poor Bubba runs for his life, and back home, where his mother tells him to hide. He does so, dressed as a scarecrow, but is found, and killed in cold blood. The twist is, immediately afterward, it's revealed that Marylee came through, and is still alive. This, in turn, sparks the beginning of the horror in the typical "that-guy-you-killed-isn't-really-dead" fashion. So, how does it hold up? Well, it IS a made-for-TV horror film from 1981, which means it can't be THAT great by today's standards. But, to the movie's credit, I could have seen this being pretty damn solid for the time. It's actually fairly well-acted, does a good job with a creepy atmosphere, and there's some fairly creative kills throughout. The only real downside to it I found was that the backstory seemed almost carbon copy of Jason's history. It's just that there were little tweaks here and there. That, followed by the film's overall brutal predictability, and the character of Skeeter, the mechanic. Skeeter may win the overall grand prize for whiniest performance in the history of film. I understand that's a bold statement, but sincerely, I was sitting there thinking to myself "holy crap, this guy's having a bad acid trip for real or something". It's a truly pathetic display to watch, and to the point where you just can't empathize with the character at all. Is it the best thing to watch for Halloween? Probably not. I can tell you there are far better Halloween films out there you'd probably rather spend your time with. But I would recommend at least checking it out once - just for the experience of it all. The cheese-factor works out much of the time here, so in a way, it's still pretty fun. It can be found in mediocre quality on YouTube if you don't feel like spending the cash. 3/5 |