October Reads

Although October is not over, I don't think there will be much more reading.  As it is October, I've read some Horror. I usually don't read horror books (outside of Stephen King) during the year.  I read everything else. 

Bird Box by Josh Malerman ★★★★
Creatures have invaded the earth, there are a few survivors.  They must not look at the creatures so they live in isolation, blindfolded.  Will there be anyone left?

When I read about this book, I thought it might be interesting, it definitely sounded different.  And this Josh Melerman is a musician, not a writer.  This was a solid effort.





 Insomnia by Stephen King ★★

Ralph Roberts used to be an ordinary guy - until insomnia robbed him of sleep. Now he's no longer ordinary - he can see horrible things happening to the people of Derry, Maine. He can see how, one by one, they are turning into monsters straight from hell. (Goodreads.com)

I plan to read every Stephen King book.  It was this books turn. I didn't like it.  I didn't think it was scary, I thought it was too long and all over the place.  I didn't care about the protagonist.  Not a stellar effort for the King of Horror.




The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving ★★★

You know, Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, nothing new here.

I don't recall reading this one, not even as a kid.  I knew the story, but it was nice to listen to the audio book.  Lots of imagery in this.  I enjoyed it.  Not very scary, toward the end is when the action starts, but that is an acceptable storytelling tactic.  Nice to read something that doesn't dwell on death and gore through the entire book.




The Troop by Nick Cutter  ★★★★

Boy scouts and their Troop leader are camping.  A stranger with a shocking appearance comes along.  No boy scout could ever be prepared for what was about to happen.

Unlike The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this book is full of gore and death.  However, it is compelling.  There is some animal cruelty issues mentioned that animal lovers seem to have a problem with.  I'd like to think I'm pretty jaded and have seen/heard/read it all, but some of this stuff had me squirming.  This is in the realm of Psychological Horror.  Although it is not the usual thing I read (because of the excessive gore) this book was well done, and very readable.


CURRENTLY READING

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol’ Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.  (Goodreads.com)

 

...countdown to the holidays

It is never too early to start planning what I will watch for Christmas.  Thank goodness for It's a Wonderful Movie blog.

Although we are still in October, so it is all about horror. Unfortunatley, I've seen many of the stuff worth watching.

I prefer the older movies:

Though there have been new ones on my list.  I recently saw a great Netflix instant watch horror movie that I found to be pretty good:
The Awakening

I also saw Oculus which was OK, I was bracing for the worse, but it was not that bad.

On the box front, I've only finished one so far:
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
This is the kind of stuff I like to read, creepy, psychological mind F**ks with an ending that was decent, but could have been better, but it was the kind of ending that leaves it open for possible sequals. 

And one of the best movies (horror or otherwise) I"ve seen in a while.....

Very good retelling or expansion of the story.  Mixing Stoker's story with the whole Vlad the impaler thing.  Not to mention, the lead was pretty hot. 

October Reading

October is just about here and I am planning to read some horror. I've joined The True Book Addicts @ Castle Macarbe's Season of the Witch Challenge

As usual, I have a lot of horror reading planned, but let's see how many I actually read.

1. The Omen by David Selzer
2. The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton
3. Dracula by Bram Stoker

And if time allows

4. Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell
5. Vlad by Carlos Fuentes

As you know, I can't do October with out horror films. Here is what I have planned

The Cabin in the Woods 
The Final
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors 
The Tall Man (Thriller) 

As well as some classic horror films that will be gracing TCM all month long.

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

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.

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

The DVR is Evil!!

I swear, one day I am just going to wake up at 8am and watch movies all day until 8pm. I could get approximately six movies in. I will do this one rainy Saturday in the fall. Knowing me, I’ll probably need to take a nap after the first 3. I really have to clean out my DVR, I’ve managed to watch everything from 2009 but one movie.

Here is the list of movies that are in need of watching before the year is over.

Pocketful of Miracles - October 20, 2009
Frankenstein Created Woman - October 29, 2010
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed - October 30, 2010
Homicidal - October 30, 2010

The last three I will watch in October, as I taped them to watch during my Halloween Horror Fest last year, but had so many to watch, I didn’t get around to these.

This year I have already started taping my Horror movies, so far, waiting in the wings is:

Fragile
The Dunwich Horror
Dark Mirror
The Addiction
Mother of Tears
Dark House
The Stepfather
Masters of Horror (3 Episodes)

And this year I was going to watch Horror Classics mostly, we’ll see what I get to from the new list. Some of these will probably be on the DVR until next October.


And as sick as it sounds, I’ve also started taping my Holiday movies/shows.

Little House on the Prairie (2 Christmas Episodes)
    Christmas at Plum Creek
    The Christmas They Never Forgot

Absolutely Fabulous (1 Christmas Episode)
    Cold Turkey

HBO Storybook Musicals (1 Christmas Episode)
    The Little Match Girl


Eloise – Little Miss Christmas


Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights


Disney’s A Christmas Carol

This isn’t the whole of my watching. I’ve not listed my library borrows or my Netflix rentals.

Gearing Up for my Horror Fest

If you have been following me for at least a year, you know that during the holiday’s I like to watch certain types of movies. For example, during the Easter season, I usually watch a lot of religious films, this year, I didn’t, because I’ve seen just about everything I wanted to. This includes all the Epics like Quo Vadis?, King of Kings, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur…etc.


During October, I watch Horror films in honor of Halloween. Some years I try to watch more of one type of the genre than others. I think last year I watched a lot of foreign horror, and one year I watched a lot of Vincent Price horror movies. This year is no different. I’m going to concentrate on Old horror films. The year ranges will be from about 1932 – 1970. Of course, this isn’t to say I won’t watch a silent or a more current film. I will probably watch some recent stuff that I missed if I can catch it on cable or get the disc from Netflix.


I will most likely get most of these films from the channel TCM. I’ve gone through the October schedule and found quite a few. Among these gems are:


Repulsion (1965)
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Dementia 13 (1963)
The Devil’s Bride (1968)
The Black Room (1935)
Dead Men Walk (1943)
Bedlam (1946)
The Seventh Victim (1943)


Don’t fret, if your favorite isn’t here, I’ve probably seen it. I have watched ALL of the Vincent Price horror films, most of the well known films from the 1940s as well.


I still have 3 movies on my DVR from last October, that I saved for this October. I don’t watch horror films during the rest of the year unless it is something current (“Insidious” comes to mind). I hope to watch all of them in that month, I only give myself a few days grace into November to finish, then it is on to Holiday Movies (Thanksgiving, Christmas)

Happenings

Hi everyone, I wanted to give an update.

I am currently working at a temp job in a cool Adverstising firm in Midtown. It is Long Term, but not sure how Long Term it is. The people are really nice, the work is easy but interesting, and my boss is a lovely woman. So right now, I'm happy!

* * *

Our choir entered a contest at NBC Today. Me and my friend Liz ran around trying to get this on a disc and sent off to the show before the deadline. My daughter took the video. Here is our little group (most everyone is there) and we are singing "Ave Verum Corpus" Elgar's version. I never really heard us before, we sound pretty damn good!


If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm the tall one in the center. I'm not really that tall, it is just that everyone else is below average in height. LOL!

* * *

October is almost over, and I have not read "Dracula" yet. Screw it! I will just read it whenever. I didn't read "The Exocist" yet either, and I purposly bought the book to read this month. But I will read this soon too. OK, maybe not until next January, because November is Nanowrimo, and at the moment I'm reading writing books, and "The Neville Reader". Once I'm finished with those, it is on to Christmas Reading. I have on my to read list "An Amish Christmas" as per Wendy.

October also means the end of the Horror movie fest. I've watched quite a bit of interesting stuff this month. Lots of Vincent Price, some Asian Horror and some recent stuff. I usually end up watching the Horror stuff until the 2nd week of November, because there is just so much. My daughter doesn't watch much of it with me, just the Vincent Price type stuff. Movies like "Halloween" and the like, she hides in the room. I did finally watch "Les Yeux Sans Visage" (Eyes Without a Face). It has been on my DVR for 2 years! My reaction....eh. It was OK. I mean it was from 1959, and it had a good creepy atmosphere, but I don't know if it is the cinematic masterpiece everyone says it is. 3 out of 5 stars for me.

Once I'm done with the Horror, it is right into Holiday movies, which there seem to be no shortage of. One would thing I would have a hard time finding new stuff to watch, but nope. I will have a list this year as well. Not as much as last year, but a few things that might interest.

Speaking of Holiday's, I got my tickets for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. You would think the fact that I live in New York City, I should be at this show every year, but this will be my first time in the 43 years I've been on this earth that I am going. My daughter has been after me for years, but it turns out, when the season comes, I'm strapped. Not so much this year, considering I don't have a steady job. But it will be just me and her, so the tickets were not that expensive. In the past, I would have had to pay for 4 tickets, but Mark is not interested (he will be around, it is Thanksgiving weekend that we are going), but I think he'd bop me on the head if I said "Let's go!". My mom is unemployed so she isn't coming, and she wouldn't let me buy her a ticket either. I hope I can get some good shots. We are on the 2nd Mezz off to the left, my camera lens is up to 200mm, we'll see.

Dave Mustaine & Vincent Price

Dave Mustaine

I have just completed “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir” by Dave Mustaine of the popular Heavy Metal (Thrash Metal) band Megadeth. I listened to this in audio format, not for any particular reason except that I was going through audible.com one day and saw it there. I got excited and purchased it right on the spot. The narrator was great, there were times I forgot it wasn’t Mustaine who was narrating the book, and the other voices he used such as the voice of Lars Ulrich of Metallica fame was spot on. It was done very well.

I have been a fan of Megadeth for 24 years. I followed them closely for about 10 years, and then life got in the way, and I only caught news of them every now and again. This book filled in the gaps.

I knew about Dave’s life with Metallica as well as his life with Megadeth up until 1995, or until about when his arm ‘died’. I knew he lived the Rock n Roll life style of excess, but to hear just how much excess there was shocked me.

It was also interesting to hear about his childhood. I did remember hearing he was a Jehovah’s Witness as a child. I remember this because his former band mate, James Hetfield (Metallica) was a Christian Scientist as a child, and I found it very interesting that both of these men, who had such extreme religious upbringings, were now both into the Heavy Metal scene.

Dave doesn’t sugar coat his ‘asshole’ moments, or does he hid his humility. He admits he was a bone head at times, and that he was a very arrogant and egotistical jerk. He admits to diarrhea of the mouth more often than not. He admits to his weaknesses and eventually realizing that he cannot do it alone and that he really is blessed beyond his imagination. But what a ride!

This book does have some choice words and some graphic imagery. However, it is written by a Christian man (a ‘baby’ Christian). He put his life out there for all to see, how brave is that?
I was hoping this book wouldn’t cause me to lose respect for him, and it didn’t. I am more in awe now than I was when I started. I’ve read memoirs and biographies of Rock Musicians before and have always been left disheartened by the end, not this time.

* * *

Vincent Price

I recently started watching Vincent Price movies. I know he was the Prince of horror movies, but I didn’t realize how many. About two years ago I got to watch “The Abominable Dr. Phibes”. In “The Abominable Dr. Phibes”, the maniacal sawbones uses the biblical plagues visited upon Egypt as a model for revenge against the surgeons he blames for his wife's demise. A silly movie, but entertaining none the less, my daughter enjoyed it.

This weekend I got the opportunity to watch "Dr. Phibes Rises Again", the sequel. This film was so campy I just loved it. In this movie Dr. Phibes attempts to resurrect his wife and will take care of anyone who gets in his way.

You have to really enjoy hearing Vincent Price’s voice, because he does a lot of talking in these movies, although his lips never move.

I also watched “The Raven” another of Price’s movies from that era. This was a quadruple threat as it also starred Peter Lore, Boris Karloff and a very, very young Jack Nicholson. Its full title is “Edgar Alan Poe’s: The Raven”, however, it has nothing to do with the poem. The only Poe thing in this movie is a short recitation at the beginning and the last line of the movie is one of the more famous lines in the poem, “Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore. Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

This was definitely a tongue and cheek effort. Very entertaining and campy. Dr. Craven is a non practicing sorcerer who is asked by a talking raven for his help in changing him back to a human being. Craven hasn’t practiced sorcery in some time; since his wife Lenore died, but he did it one last time to help this man. Once the man is transformed into his human form, Craven discovers he is a fellow sorcerer in need of help. Craven agrees to help him and the story takes off from there.

A Tale of Two Sisters

A Tale of Two Sisters ** (장화, 홍련 Janghwa, Hongryeon literally 'Rose Flower, Red Lotus') is a 2003 South Korean psychological horror film by Kim Ji-woon. The film is inspired by a Joseon Dynasty folktale entitled "Janghwa Hongreyon-jon", which has been adapted to film several times.

I don't remember who said they saw this movie and thought it was really scary? Was it Wendy? Anyway, I did see the American remake "The Univited". I didn't hate that version, but I am a fan of Asian Horror, so I thought I'd give the Korean version a try.

I don't remember being afraid watching the American version, but the Korean version was creepy. I wasn't 'scared', but I did tense up some. I did get a little lost during the movie, I wasn't sure what was happening, and at the end, it didn't come to light. Maybe I'm just dense, but the overall picture was very good.

For those unfamilar with the story it is about two sisters who come home from a hospital stay. They come home to a step mother who moved her way in shortly after (or during) their mother's death. Strange things happen once the girls return home.

I always tell people to watch the Asian version of a horror picture before they watch the American remake. I have not found any American remake that was as scary as the Asian. The best American remakes were "Shutter" and "The Eye"...still the Asian version is better.

If you have any interest, here are some Asian Horror pictures that are out there:

Ju-On (The Grudge) (Japanese) **
Ju-On 2 (Japanese) **
Jian Gui (The Eye) (Chinese)
Shutter (Thai)
Rinne (Reincarnation) (Japanese)
Ringu (The Ring) (Japanese)
Ringu 2 (Japanese)
Yogen (Premonition) (Japanese)
Phone (Korean)

**Highly Recommend

I purposely left 2 movies off "Auditon" (Japanese) and "Pulse" (Japanese) because they were awful.

Halloween Reads & Watches

OK, so I will attempt to read 2 horror books this month. Last year, I didn't read any horror books during the month of October.

1. Dracula - Bram Stoker
2. The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty


Last year I watched most of the movies I had planned to as well as many more. Here is the LINK to last years movie and book (that wasn't read).

This year's movies will hopefully include:

1. The Girl Next Door
2. Fright Night
3. The Exorcist (rewatch)
4. Fingerprints
5. Population 436 (watched this in September)
6. The Premature Burial
7. The William Castle Film Collection (This is a collection on DVD that includes films such as: 13 Ghosts, 13 Frightened Girls, Homicidal).

And some campy B-movie stuff with Vincent Price:

The Masque of Red Death
Dr. Phibes Rises Again
The Last Man on Earth

At least I know my daughter will watch these with me. She liked "Dr. Phibes". I'm not sure I can get her to watch the other stuff with me, she said she'd give "The Exorcist" a try.

What's on Tap for Halloween Watching?

The past two years I have started my own ritual of watching horror movies during the month of October. I generally do not watch them throughout the year unless they are Blockbusters. I cram them all in this month. I never get to watch all that are on my list. Here is what is on tap, but I'm probably only going to watch about 15 or so of them. I've only read one of them (Frankenstein), and although the movie started out much like the book, it didn't really follow it toward the end.

The ones marked in red, I have watched so far.

Netflix
1. Salem's Lot (1979)
2. Frankenstein: The True Story (1973)
3. Trick 'r Treat (2008)
4. Drag Me To Hell (2009)
5. Last House on the Left (2009)
6. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
7. Ghost Story (1981)
8. The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
9. A Haunting in Connecticut (2002)
10. A Haunting in Georgia (2008)
11. Quarantine (2008)

Library
12. The Woman in Black (1989)
13. Beetlejuice (1988)
14. The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008)

TMC
16. White Zombie (1932)
17. I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
18. Black Moon (1934)
29. Tales of Terror (1962)
20. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
21. The Tingler (1959)
22. 13 Ghosts (1960)
23. The Old Dark House (1932)
24. The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

One Halloween Read

Unless it is Stephen King, I'm not too into the Horror genre. But I try to read one Horror book in October in honor of Halloween. Last year I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. It was one of those books that have been sitting on my shelves for a while.

This year I plan to tackle Dracula by Bram Stoker. One of those books I've always wanted to read but never got to. I was thinking of borrowing it from the library, but then I realized that I already had it in my Kindle (for free).