.....I dare you to come up with a more generic and lame post title than that!
Hello, fellow fans of fright and the wonderful Halloween season! The colors are coming into their own and allowing the early morning and late afternoon sun to blaze across them giving them blinding beauty. The pumpkins are invading the markets, Halloween decor is popping up in yards and the local Haunted Attractions are popping up all over the rural suburbs.
'Tis the season of ghosts and ghouls and I couldn't feel more rejuvenated because of it. In fact, on my day off yesterday, I did something I wouldn't usually do on a vacation day. Usually, I sleep in late and then get up and lay on the couch and watch horror movies. Before you know it, it's noon and I've wasted half a day. But, yesterday I got up as early as I usually do on a workday and went outside to watch the sun rise over the lake. The way it bounces off of the clouds on the horizon creating blues, oranges and reds is quite Autumnly spectacular!
I then walked on down to the local diner and gorged on a meal of Greek breakfast skillet. Good gosh-darn times, I tell you!
And since it is that spooktacular season there are a few annual events taking place right now. First we have the local Haunted Attractions running full force. I'm going to try hard to get to at least a couple this season. Perhaps next weekend. Stay tuned for a review.
Second, we have the annual Al's Run for the local childrens' hospital. It's a huge marathon that runs right down my street in front of my apartment every year. In fact I'm looking out the window and watching the participants running down the street right now, as I type this. At least I'm hoping it's Al's Run and not neighbors running from the oncoming, flesh eating zombie hordes! No one knocked on my door to warn me to get my skinny little butt running! Rat-Bastards!
Ehem....anyway. The third annual event is my Horror movie reviews here in my blog. So lets get right down into the thick of it, shall we....
Rob Zombie's Halloween II ("H2") - Rob Zombie is an artist I really dig. His live shows are theatrically Horror driven extravaganzas. His love of the Horror genre is infused within the music he makes and the movies he writes and directs. Rob, also, pulls no punches when it comes to controversial use of disturbing violence and gore in his flicks. So if you enjoyed the brutal non-stop blood fest that came from his first Halloween movie as well as, House of 100 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, you'll know what you're in for.
I really enjoyed his first homage to John Carpenter's original Halloween (probably one of the best darn Horror movies of all time) but, only when I looked at it from the perspective that it is an homage (pronounced OHMAJ for you snootier types) rather than a reboot. In my eyes, he succeeds in the same way with H2, while at the same time, opening up a whole new avenue of telling the story of the cursed Meyers family. Rather than it being just a tale of poor Laurie Strode being stalked by her infamous serial killer brother, Michael Myers, it is also a twisted tale about the links between sister and brother and how you can never really escape family.
A lot of Carpenter / Halloween purists have decried a befouling of the series in Zombie's two interpretations of the first two originals. I can understand that if I were only looking at Zombie's works as reboots. But when you look at them as simply his homages and personal interpretations, you may enjoy them a lot better.
I didn't get into H2 as much as I did Zombie's first Halloween movie. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the first movie paralleled the first original Halloween movie much better and gave you more of a grounding for the story. H2 starts off like Carpenter's Halloween 2, but then ventures into it's own original plots and twists.
Once again Scout Taylor-Compton takes on the roll of Laurie Strode with a energy that I hope movie goers will get to see in many more movies to come. She's a force to be reckoned with. Keep an eye on her. And I don't mean that in a dirty-old-man kind of way either.
Again, Zombie's Halloween movies are great homages to the originals if you're willing to see them that way. If you're a purist, stick with Carpenter's originals.
View trailer HERE!
The Crazies - Another remake of an '70's classic. It's an interesting play on the zombie genre with a switch. Yes, there's a biological plague, but it is not turning the people of a small farm community into brain eating zombies. It is turning good natured town folk into creepy raving lunatics. And of course this movie gets a big boost with George Remero's finger in the frosting since he is executive producer.
I've enjoyed Timothy Olyphant's work since his strong as nails portrayal of Sheriff Seth Bullock on Deadwood.. Here he plays a sheriff whose town is falling pray to the virus changing his friends and neighbors into homicidal maniacs. He, once again, does a fine job of being the strong character amongst a metric butt-load of craziness.
The plague victims are a far cry from Remero's zombies. Unlike zombies these "people" don't mindlessly plod around looking to eat brains. They're a little more methodical in their endeavors. Instead of going for the jugular of their victims they lean more towards options such as locking their family in an upstairs closet, then dumping gasoline all over the house and then setting fire to the house and watching it burn to the ground. So there's a bit more of a sinister urge these folks have.
Of course the military and government are knee deep involved with the virus and they're just as much of a threat to the surviving townsfolk as the crazies are.
The movie does come with a good dose of stock, thriller trappings. But, I did enjoy this movie for what it is, a real good spook thriller.
View trailer HERE!
The Wolfman - This Victorian based horror movie is one I seemed to enjoy more than most. But, I'm a sucker for history based Horror such as Sleepy Hallow and Interview with a Vampire. There's something about the Horror genres that are told from historical times that seem far more creepy and spooky than those of modern day to me. And this movie has all of those old, creepy motifs well planted. A creepy crypt, some spooky bogs, dark forests and a huge, Gothic mansion all decorate this film. It definitely stroked my love of the macabre in a visual way.
However, I can see where it didn't make a big of a dent in the box office as was hoped. The plot is predictable and some of the acting was "called in".
Sir Anthony Hopkins is quite entertaining as the patriarch of a seemingly cursed family and dives into his role with great relish.
If you're into Gothic Horror it is something to check out. If your a slasher fan, there's plenty of blood and guts to satiate your gore-hound tastes.
View trailer HERE!
Deadgirl - This is probably the most disturbing zombie film I've ever seen.
It's not disturbing in the way The Exorcist keeps you up at night. It's disturbing because a couple of the main characters are valueless turds of human beings and their actions are unspeakable. And it's not a "zombie film" in the traditional way where there are loads of zombies taking over a small town. The film revolves around one main, young female zombie who spends much of the movie helplessly strapped to an old gurney.
The movie gets going after two high school burnouts are exploring an old, empty asylum. They come upon a forgotten back room where they discover the "deadgirl" strapped to the gurney. This is where things get pretty fracked up.
I'm not going into detail of what one of the burnouts spends much of the movie using the zombie for. Suffice it to say, he is king of all perverts. The other burnout goes back and forth with his conscience with the whole twisted situation and in the end he is no better than his pervo friend.
An interesting view on the zombie genre, but I think this is more of a Horror film for those that are into disturbing, art house, independent films. Not my cup of tea.
Jennifer's Body - I thought I wasn't really going to like this film. The Horror fan crowd didn't seem to jump onto this one. Megan Fox is perceived as being a one-trick eye candy actress and Diablo Cody's dialogue might seem trendy and clever for one movie (Juno), but in a Horror film it might be a bit overboard and over saturated.
But, for the most part, I dug it. It was a well told tale of two friends, one hot as hell and the other a bit nerdy, and how their relationship hits a pretty big snag when the hot one (Fox) becomes possessed by a demonic succubus and has to feed on the flesh of humans to keep her powers.
Fox does a fine job playing the hot cheerleader with a dark secret. And the dialog, while peppered with great Cody-isms, doesn't go too overboard.
This film took me back to movies like Heathers, a teen comedy with a real dark side.
While it's not very creepy, or scary it still has a good dose of blood and guts in it. There's also a bunch of real cool cameos and small roles that are fun to see in this film. J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedris and Lance Henrikson all pop up in various rolls.
A fun Horror flick to be sure, home skillet! View trailer HERE!
This is going to be it for me today. Don't be discouraged as I have a few more reviews coming within this eerie month of the dead. So stay tuned and stay vertical!
Zangz.
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