Horror Fest - The Final Week

The Stepfather (2009) I saw the 1986 version of this, but this one was better. Starring Sela Ward and Dylan Walsh (Nip Tuck). Walsh plays the Step-father who charms his way into an unsuspecting family. I always thought Walsh had boyish good looks, but he was very creepy in this one. He's a great actor. 4 out of 5 


Them! B-Grade film from 1954. Giant ants invade the earth. Good guys come and kill them off. 2 out of 5


Dementia 13 Francis, Francis, Francis (Ford Coppola). SIGH. Thank god he finished film school. He did this film in 1963 when he was still in film school. The mood was very good, but the story had holes and obvious flaws. No one can get away with that stuff today. For one thing, bodies don't stay at the bottom of the lake, they float up eventually. Everyone knows this!! 3 out of 5 


The Creeping Flesh A 1973 Peter Cushing film. I can't explain this properly so here it is from Netflix. A scientist who begins to believe that a skeleton he's brought back from New Guinea may be infused with evil. Worried that his family will be punished by this malevolent being, he scurries the pile of bones away. Unfortunately, his nefarious brother (Christopher Lee) may have other plans for the skeletal find. This came on TV, so I just watched it, since I really like Peter Cushing. The movie was pretty good until about the last 30 minutes, then it just got silly. 3 out of 5. 


This was the year I planned to watch only classic horror films. I watched other stuff as well. Here are the stats.  


Total Horror Movies Watched: 19 
Total Classic Horror Movies: 10 
Total Recent Horror Movies: 9
Total Stephen King Inspired Horror Movies: 3 
Total Movies about Dr. Frankenstein: 2 
Total Movies starring Boris Karloff: 3 

The creepiest movie watched this season: The Children

80s vs. 50s

Can you tell who is which era?  Well that is obvious.  My daughter decided to go 80s, her best friend 50s. They both look so cute.  They're off to their Halloween party at the school.

October is Ending

Halloween is on Monday. The month of October flew by.  I haven’t watched as many horror movies as I had hoped, but I did OK.  I did manage to read at least one horror Book too. 

I have a few movies on my DVR to watch, but I have decided that I will delete whatever horror movies I don’t watch.  I had two on there from last year that I watched this year. I only kept them because they were classic movies that hardly ever are shown.  But the other stuff that is on there, is the same old stuff, so if I don’t watch it this October, oh well.

People might wonder why I pick a particular month to watch a particular genre.  Because if I don’t I probably will not watch most of these movies.  I have come to realize after years of doing this, that I would have missed some great things if I didn’t make the effort to seek them out during a pre-determined time period.

November and December are set aside for Holiday movies.  I need a full two months to watch these because there are so many.  And I watch a lot of Christmas (and Thanksgiving) movies every year, and hardly repeat watch anything. I will watch things over and over like “It’s a Wonderful Life” which is my favorite movie, and “Miracle on 34^th Street ” and stuff like that.  My daughter also enjoys the Hallmark Christmas movies and wants to watch them with me, so Hallmark is always coming out with new movies all the time for the holidays.  My DVR has more Christmas movies waiting to be watched than anything else, and all but one were recorded this year.  I record them when they come on, it usually starts in September.

My library FINALLY got in “Lost December” by Richard Paul Evans Christmas present to us this year.  It is out a month later than usual, he usually has his books released sometime in October, but this year it is November 1^st.  But I’m early on the queue, so I should be one of the first people to get the library copy.  I am also waiting for Glenn Beck’s Christmas book to come out for this year.  This one is called “Snow Angel”.  I’m not a Glenn Beck fan, but his last Christmas book “The Christmas Sweater” was so sweet and wonderful, I’ve decided I will read all of his Christmas books, but nothing else.

I’ve put together a list of Thanksgiving movies. This is by no means all of them, but it is a good start to find new things to watch for a holiday that is usually ignored in the film department:

http://nypl.bibliocommons.com/list/show/91478512_busy91/95225111_thanksgiving_movies

This link should work. I hope it does.

Nanowrimo starts on Tuesday, November 1^st.  I am making an effort this year. Last year I couldn’t be bothered, the year before I started but couldn’t finish. I had no desire, but this year I plan to get to my 50K.

So November posts will be interspersed with Thanksgiving/Christmas stuff and Nano stuff.

Week 3 - Horror Fest

Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return 
As I mentioned last week, I loved the original Children of the Corn movie starring John Franklin.  This sequel stars a much older John Franklin.  Isaac was kept alive in a coma for 19 years. When he finally awakens he gathers the children of the original children.  Actually not a bad remake.  Stephen King had nothing to do with this other than the original character of Isaac and the story-line.  3.5 out of 5

Let Me In
This is the American version of Let The Right One In.  A young boy meets a new neighbor, but he is not at all what he expected.  Pretty creepy movie.  3.5 out of 5

The Children
This was a super-creepy movie.  Friends go away for Christmas holiday with their kids.  A secluded cabin in the woods is nice, that is until the children come down with a mysterious illness that causes them to become psychotic.  3.75 out of 5

Black Room 
Boris Karloff stars in this classic film as brothers Gregor and Anton.  Twin son's of a well liked Barron who tries to prevent a prophecy of having one brother kill the other.  Gregor is the eldest, therefore, becomes the next Barron when the father dies, but he is not as beloved as his father.  3.5 out of 5

The Man They Couldn't Hang  
Boris Karloff stars in this classic film as a Doctor who has discovered a way to bring the dead back to life.  However, before he could finish his experiment, he is arrested for murder.  He is tried and hanged for his crime.  That is when the story gets interesting.  3.75 out of 5



I've watched 7 Classic Horror Movies this far.  I'll probably end up watching about 10 of them.  Not so bad.  I did want to watch nothing but classic horror, but there are just too many movies to watch.  I will never be able to watch them all.  Once October is over, I will delete the unwatched movies from my DVR.

The Exorcist, The Lottery

I finally read it.  The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.  OK, I've only had this book for a year, so it is not as bad as some other books I've had for years.  I liked the movie and I really liked this book. This was well written and although I knew the story, it was entertaining to read.  This will probably be the only Horror book I will finish this month.  I was striving to also read Dracula, but that isn't going to happen.


The Exorcist gets 5 out of 5 star.


I did finally read something else I've wanted to read for a while.  The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.  This is a short story, and in the past, it has only been in a collection.  But my library had it as a book.  It was about 20 pages long.

A small town runs an annual lottery. The chosen person is the sacrificial lamb.  But the sacrifice is the interesting part.  There is a strong moral message in this story.   4.5 out of 5.


If you can't find this story in the single book format, it is in the book entitled The Lottery and 7 Other Stories or in the book entitled The Lottery and Other Stories.

Week 2 - Horror Fest

Thanks to It's A Wonderful Movie I can keep up with all my Christmas movies. It is posted there that Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas on ABC FAMILY will start showing movies on November 20, 2011. Starting off with Desperately Seeking Santa.

However, we are still in October, so how is it going for me and movies this week? I've watched

Riding the Bullet
From a Stephen King story. Alan Parker fears the worst in any situation. But after his mother falls ill, Alan shelves his fears and hitchhikes to the hospital, only to be picked up by an otherworldly stranger. Alan's journey takes a turn for the frighteningly surreal as he's forced to confront his demons on a life-altering road trip. One of the better King adaptations. 3.5 out of 5.

Children of the Corn (2009)

This is the remake and made for TV. A Midwestern town run by creepy children kills anyone over 19 that comes into their midst. The story is the same as the original one that first came to the screen in 1984, but the children in the 1984 version were much creepier. These kids just seemed like kids playing a part. The original one was produced by King, which always makes them better. If you recall the creepy kids John Franklin who played Isaac and Courtney Gaines who played Malachai, well you can't get much creepier than those two. The recent one lacked that casting magic. 3 out of 5.

  John Franklin (The Original Isaac)

                                                                                         
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
After a drunk wanders into and disrupts his secret lab, Dr. Frankenstein decides he must find a new place to set up shop. Conveniently, he finds an innocent young girl who happens to have a boyfriend employed by the local hospital. Seeing his opportunity, Dr. Frankenstein kidnaps the couple and forces them to take part in a dangerous brain-swapping experiment. It was said that this is the best one of the lot, but I found it to be just OK. 3 out of 5.

The Ward Master of horror John Carpenter returns to form -- and to the director's chair -- for this chilling thriller in which a young woman, Kristen, is sent to a mental institution with a past as dark and haunted as her own. Terrorized by a ghost, each of the other patients in Kristen's ward begin to disappear, and that's just the beginning of her long nightmare. This one was actually pretty good. The ending was interesting, didn't see it coming. 3 out of 5.

Black Sunday (La maschera del demonio) (1960) Condemned witch Princess Asa played by Barbara Steele, returns from the dead two centuries after her execution and wreaks vengeance on her killers' family. Possessing the body of a descendant who happens to look just like her, Asa pulls out all the stops to exact her revenge. Overdubbed in English (originally Italian I believe) this was a typical classic B grade horror movie. Well probably a little stop above B, a B+. 3 out of 5.

Movies - Horror

It is 9 days into the month and I started my Horror Feast on October 1st.


In the Mouth of Madness - A famous Horror author goes missing, and an investigator is sent to find him.  The small town he is tracked to finds him in a horror scene right out of the authors book.  Rating 3 out of 5


Homicidal - A William Castle film from 1961.  A B class movie but it was very interesting.  I didn't see this ending coming, although I should have.  Rating 4 out of 5


Frankenstein Created Woman - One of the Frankenstein movies staring Peter Cushing.  Not a 'Bride of Frankenstein" remake, it had a different take.  I find the Cushing Frankenstein movies to be more character driven and quite good.  Rating 3.5 out of 5


Attack of the 50 Foot Woman - Was warned this was a bomb, but I love seeing old and bad.  A jilted wife runs into a little problem with radioactivity and grows to amazing heights.  If she can't have her husband, no one will.  Rating  2 out of 5


Scream 4 - Yes I like the Scream movies (I like the Saw movies too).  Typical slasher stuff, pretty cool ending though.  Rating 4 out of 5


The Ledge - This one was a Thriller.  I thought it was a remake of "14 Hours" (1951), but it wasn't.  A man is on a ledge and a cop attempts to talk him down.  That is where the similarities stop.  This movie is told through flashbacks of mostly the jumper but sometimes the cop.  Rating 4.5 out of 5