Halloween Horror Marathon '12

Halloween Horror Marathon '13

Halloween Horror Marathon '14



Good evening.

Another October has chanced upon us, and, as usual, we have begun to turn our attention to cold weather pursuits. But as the air turns colder, we might find ourselves turning to a good fright in order to keep ourselves warm during those chilly fall nights. This year, for our annual Halloween horror marathon, we offer up thrills that are beyond a Shadow Of A Doubt, a veritable Frenzy of Notorious killers, marauding monsters, and other things that go bump in the night. And while some films may be strictly for The Birds, I'm sure that some of the Psychos on display are bound to raise little gooseflesh. The slash of a knife in a darkened room might result in a Torn Curtain or two, someone may be buried in his Family Plot before his allotted time has expired, and strangulation with a knotted length of Rope is not altogether out of the question. There are enough death scenarios present in this year's lineup of shock cinema that they're bound you leave you Spellbound with Vertigo. And, I Confess, as always, that you can enjoy all of these films from the comfort of your own home theater. I promise you nothing but entertainment, an escape from all your problems...[leans forward]...as it was for me.

This year's Halloween horror marathon is dedicated to the memories of Christopher Lee and Wes Craven...thanks for the decades' worth of sleepless nights, gents.

Love these threads every year MJ. I will do my best to contribute! (Though as my viewing hours are greatly reduced with an 18 mo. old running around, I have to pick carefully!)

I can tell you this already: avoid the Count Chocula/Frankenberry/Booberry cereals like the plague. My mom never bought them for me as a kid, so I've tried them as an adult...and I can safely say, unless they've changed the formula from when we were younger, they are simply horrific!

I haven't had Count Chocula in about 35 to 40 years I think. Never had Frankenberry or Boo-Berry but I do remember the defunct "Frute Brute" which had a werewolf mascot for an orange flavored cereal as I recall.

Yes they even brought him back a year ago too! Alas I can't imagine they are using the same recipe now.

Eric Paddon wrote:I haven't had Count Chocula in about 35 to 40 years I think. Never had Frankenberry or Boo-Berry but I do remember the defunct "Frute Brute" which had a werewolf mascot for an orange flavored cereal as I recall.

A box of Fruit Brute was used as a prop in Pulp Fiction (Eric Stoltz is eating a bowl before John Travolta drops by with an O.D.'ing Uma Thurman).



I tried Boo Berry a few years ago, and agreed...it's pretty bad, even by the standards of sugary kid's cereals.

Don't know if I'll be able to contribute much this year -- I think I've watched all the good scary movies within the last two Octobers (I like to let about two or three years lapse before revisiting a movie).

Also...I just don't own that many horror flicks!

Starting off with something a little more cute than creepy...

Hotel Transylvania (2012): 7.5/10



I gave this one a pass in theaters (mainly due to the Sandler Taint), but when I finally watched it earlier this year, I was very pleasantly surprised...it's charming, funny and sweet, with excellent, energetic animation featuring characters caroming off the sides of the screen like in a vintage Tex Avery cartoon. Great stuff to introduce kids to the classic "Universal Monster" archetypes, and parents who grew up on these kinds of films will enjoy it a lot too.

Told you!! (Didn't you think I was crazy? Someone did....lol)

Considering Sandler's filmography, can you really blame me?

Of course I don't, though I figured you'd enjoy it because it has a real affection for the classic monsters. Also, I think if you were familiar with Genndy Tartakovsky's work, you might have had more of an open mind, because he's talented and his output is often very funny. I went in expecting it to be better than most critics (who reviewed it solely on the basis of Sandler and paid scant attention seemingly to what was on-screen) and it was.

I really enjoyed Hotel Transylvania. Like you said, it's good fun for kids, appealing characters and a real nice homage to all the Universal Monsters at the same time.

AndyDursin wrote:I went in expecting it to be better than most critics (who reviewed it solely on the basis of Sandler and paid scant attention seemingly to what was on-screen) and it was.

That's exactly it...the name "Adam Sandler" in a movie cast list is every bit as much of a signpost of "cinematic torture" as Michael Bay or M. Night Shyamalan, so no wonder critics went into Transylvania scowling and with their arms crossed. Shame...if anyone else's name been attached as star/producer/co-writer, the film would be viewed as a minor classic as far as "kid-friendly" monster movies go.

Speaking of which...

-Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015): 7/10

Maybe a sliver less enjoyable than the first (so little of the film takes place within the titular hotel it might as well have been titled Road Trip Transylvania), but still fun, with the inspired casting of Mel Brooks -- Dead and Loving It -- as Drac's fussy, human-hating Dad.



-Maggie (2015): 5/10



Aside from the novelty of seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger attempt an honest-to-God dramatic performance (let's just be kind and say that "grieving father" isn't within his limited skills as a performer), this is a fairly rote zombie movie, albeit one with a tone that's more somber and realistic than you'd expect.

Black Swan (2010): 10/10



Seeing this in the typically-pitiful "Halloween" section at Best Buy initially made me wonder what their definition of "horror" is, but, giving it a little thought, I realized it's an unconventional but entirely appropriate film for the season...this is pure, psychological horror that the young Roman Polanski would have been envious of, with nightmarishly surreal imagery, shuddery gross-outs (you'll never think of ballet as effortlessly elegant again once you view Natalie Portman's toenail crack in half in loving, oozing close-up) and a superb performance by Portman as a young dancing prodigy slowly losing her mind under the pressure of playing the lead in Swan Lake.

-Shutter Island (2010): 9/10



Another nightmarish trip through a diseased mind, Martin Scorsese's rattling psychological drama was unfairly pilloried by some critics and viewers as being a movie "ruined" by an unnecessary "twist" ending ("Oh, I knew how it was going to end just watching the TRAILER...!"), and to them, I say, "Congratulations! You just missed the forest for the trees". A white-knuckle thriller drenched in gloomy atmosphere, Shutter Island is one of those films that plays by well-established genre rules before evolving into something far more emotionally resonant and piercingly disturbing than all of the rattling chains and unsavory supporting characters would lead you to believe. Some of Leonardo DiCaprio's finest acting to date, and Scorsese and his usual tech team polish the material to a high gloss.

-Cape Fear (1991): 10/10



Martin Scorsese's terrifying remake of the 1962 film is the rare remake that is both more graphically explicit and more psychologically subtle than the original, with Robert De Niro's subversively jovial madman Max Cady -- sent to prison for rape and aggravated assault fourteen years earlier when evidence that could have exonerated him or reduced his sentence was deliberately suppressed -- insidiously driving a spike between the strained relationships between former legal counselor Samuel Bowden (Nick Nolte), his wife (Jessica Lange) and sensually curious teenage daughter (Juliette Lewis) before settling on more bluntly physical means of terrorism. Somewhat criticized in its day as a Cape Fear for the Freddy Krueger generation, Scorsese's film has weathered the years far better than you'd expect, with scenes that are both viscerally upsetting (De Niro's bedroom assault on Illeanna Douglas is one of the most effective acts of screen violence Scorsese has ever directed) and even more anxiety-inducing moments like the superb scene where Cady -- impersonating a high school drama teacher -- makes a squirmy romantic pass at Lewis, all the more disquieting for her allowing it to happen even after she realizes who he really is. Drenched in vividly lurid colors by the great cinematographer Freddie Francis and set to an overpowering re-recording of Bernard Herrmann's memorable score to the original film (adapted and conducted by Elmer Bernstein), Cape Fear is a truly great thriller.