The Iconic Shots Of Horror

Neat little video below...

Louis Cyphre

Now Watching: Wanderers

A fantastic sci-fi short film.

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Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

My mother's mother was a cool lady.  She passed away when I was about eight, but she was perfectly placed in those formative years to introduce me to the joys of everything spooky.  She would visit on some Saturday mornings, with her pack of cigarettes and dressed like someone who was in a rockabilly band.  She'd bring us cool toys like rubber skeletons or a neat blood-dripping candle skull.  She'd also let us watch horror films.  Creature Double Feature to be exact.  Those days were glorious.  She was someone who was the opposite of my parents.  Someone who seemed to realize that a lot of life was silly and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

On one of those Saturdays, we watched a horror film with a strange long name (written and directed by the man who brought us Black Christmas and A Christmas Story - Bob Clark).  I recall the film scaring us at the time, as it was made in 1972 and was low budget... so by default it had a grimy feel to it.  Shot entirely at night, it felt extremely claustrophobic.  And due to a surprisingly solid script and a very interesting story, it made the notion of people in a cemetery invoking a Satanic spell to raise the dead quite believable.  

A local theater was showing this gem of a film on Friday night, and we went.  I hadn't seen it since that one time as a boy, so I had convinced myself it would be one of those so-bad-it's-good horror movies.  Turns out, it's even more enjoyable and interesting now that I'm intensely old and have seen a lifetime of zombie films.  There was a believable sense of dread due to the intelligent way the story was allowed to unfold.  A tension was created at the start of the film between the characters that felt incredibly real.  A group of actors (fearing job loss if they don't follow their theatre group's cruel director) agree to rob a grave and take part in his necromantic ritual.  It was the perfect setting for a zombie tale.  And, to date, I have never seen, nor probably will ever see, a Satanic spell that was so perfectly written and believable.  It felt totally real.

It's Saturday morning here, and if you click below, you can watch the entire film.  My grandmother would take smoke breaks throughout a movie, and she'd go into my parents' kitchen, open a window, and sit in the chair closest to it.  She wasn't allowed to smoke in the house, so this was her version of obeying the rule, blowing most of the smoke out into the back yard, with a smirk on her face.  

Here's to one of the giants from my past.

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Alien Day: LV-426

I almost forgot it was Alien Day.

Currently watching the below and pondering the fact that a long slow segment like this one would never make it into a movie these days.  So glad I grew up when I did.  Movie magic.  True story telling.  

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The Invisible Man

My recommendations for horror movies are few and far between these years (for obvious reasons [most stink]).  The Invisible Man was one of those rare exceptions where you didn't get to the end and wonder what went wrong with the world.  Rare also was the fact that it was well-reviewed at the time of its release (something that didn't happen with one of my favorite modern horror films CANDYMAN [it didn't stink]).  

We watched this one at night a week ago and I still find myself thinking about it.  I'm posting the trailer below, but, like a lot of trailers, it reveals too much.  So I suppose I'm asking you to trust me (if you're bored and can't find anything to watch).

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Future

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Bell, Book And Candle

We watched this terrific film last night and I wanted to recommend it to anyone looking to add something a little different to their Christmas season lineup.  It's ahead of its time in the portrayal of witchcraft and the supernatural and loaded with great performances.  Click below to get a brief intro by Sam Hamm on Trailers from Hell.

Now Playing: The Equalizer (Enzo Margaglio Remix)

Man, I miss the days of main stars who were over forty (and fifty).  Do shows even have memorable themes anymore?  I honestly couldn't answer that.

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V - The Final Battle (Enzo Margaglio Remix)

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Halloween II

We watched this 1981 sequel recently and I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older or what, but the middle part, those slow scenes inside the hospital, no longer troubled me.  It felt slow, but not in a bad way.  It felt like the late hours of the night on Halloween, right before November 1st.  

The atmosphere and style were all there, despite not having John Carpenter as the director.  The story is still very interesting and elevates Laurie from someone who was randomly chosen by Myers to being way more significant.  I never had any issues with the fact that she turns out to be Michael Myers' sister.  From a sequel point of view, it really works well.  The classroom scene where Myers has done some exposition for the audience never bothered me either.  Writing 'SAMHAIN' on the chalkboard in blood was always such a strange element.  I used to try to picture Myers in that classroom.  Skulking around in the world he remembered back before he murdered his sister and was incarcerated.  It never felt out of character for him to write on the board...  we're dealing with a guy who dressed up as Bob's Ghost in the first film, who arranged a tombstone (that he plucked from a cemetery) at the head of a bed as he displayed Annie's dead body.

Then we get poor Ben Tramer's fiery death.  I might be obsessed with this character's tragedy story.  And of course we also get an amazing performance by Donald Pleasence.  In a lot of ways, this film is about Loomis and not Laurie.  Halloween II and IV are like love letters to Dr. Sam Loomis, and you feel his absence in every scene that's missing this wonderful actor.  (I forgive him for mispronouncing 'samhain.')

The production design really got it right when decorating the scenes with Halloween decor.  So many staples of the time, with some really great homemade decorations as well hanging in the hospital hallways.  

We loved revisiting this film and seeing it with fresh eyes, watching it late at night with glowing Halloween blowmolds and flickering candles all around.

Click below for the classroom scene, a personal fave...

Trailer: Cobweb

We watched this atmospheric and quite spooky film the other night.  Been seeing a lot of people slagging on it online, and it's baffling.  In a film world where we get horror movies with over-the-top gore, soulless characters, weak dialogue, and terrible CGI, I will never understand how the average horror fan can get so toxic when they see something like COBWEB.  

I would describe this film as a Halloween Fairytale Horror film.  The visuals are wonderful, the characters are interesting, and the scares are really effective.  And an added bonus has the movie set during the week of Halloween.  Lots of Halloween eye candy.  

I was afraid the trailer would give too much away, but it doesn't.  So click below...

Trailer: American Scary

This fantastic documentary needs to be on everyone's annual Halloween watch list.  

Currently streaming on Amazon for three clams.

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Spoiler Alert: The Black Hole - The Ending

The final nightmarish scenes from The Black Hole are below.  Imagine seeing this as a young child at a friend's house, on a VCR.  His family is sitting in the living room, excited that a Disney film has just been brought home from Four Star Video at the local strip mall.  Surely, it'll be just like Star Wars.  

Surely.

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Now Watching: Gothic - The Dark Heart Of Film

This is really wonderful.

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Remembering INK

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Horror Montage Extraordinaire

Total repost, but this actually might be the singular greatest horror montage on the internet.  And it has a very neat and bittersweet ending featuring the late David Warner.

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Unsolved Mysteries: Jeepers Creepers

An old favorite.  This show was SOOO good.

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Now Watching: The Film Symphony Orchestra

Live performance of a favorite score by James Newton Howard.

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Now Watching: JAWS