Halloween Horror Marathon 2012

[Mike Skerritt]

Y'all are making me jealous.

October is typically my month to dive headlong into new horror delights, but right now I'm just too busy with work and babies to get any time, and most of the time I do get is spent sleeping.

But I've got a few things on my Amazon instant watchlist that I hope to hit soon. MOTHMAN PROPHECIES is one, and so is DON'T LOOK NOW.

[Monterey Jack]

Paranormal Activity (2009): 7.5/10

Still creepy, although hearing any sort of mysterious thump in your house late at night is inherently frightening.

[AndyDursin]

FRANKENSTEIN & BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN are showing nationally this Tues. at 7pm in many theater chains as part of a one-night-only double bill.

HALLOWEEN is also showing on Oct. 25th and/or Oct. 30th around the country as well. Website to check out when/where:
http://www.screenvision.com/cinema-events/halloween/

I have to say, as much as I'd love to see them in a theater...knowing they'll probably be on one of the smaller screens at the multiplex, I'm probably best served watching them at home on my 60' plasma!!

[Monterey Jack]

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010): 7.5/10

[Monterey Jack]

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011): 7/10

A bit of Franchise Fatigue begins to creep in, but still effective.

[Mike Skerritt]

I'm looking forward to PA3. PA2 was a big step up from the first one, IMO, with better characters (such as they are - the dad's freakout at the daughter's boyfriend killed me) and a clever expansion of the franchise's mythology. The last half hour was very effective. Having a toddler myself certainly didn't help that

[Monterey Jack]

Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982): 6/10

What the HELL did I just watch?!

[AndyDursin]

That scene is SEVERELY messed up. lol.

Dean Cundey's cinematography keeps all three of those early films watchable. I'm going through II right now and, surprisingly, have found out Universal's cheaper release from last year has a better transfer than the Shout version (they put some noise filters on it that end up making the picture slightly less detailed). Have to amend my review of the latter.

[Paul MacLean]

That scene is SEVERELY messed up. lol.

I love the ending of that movie. It's so upbeat and gives you such a feeling of satisfying closure.

[AndyDursin]

LOL

MJ hope you have NIGHT OF THE CREEPS on the list. That is another "Essential Tom Atkins" classic (and a great deal more fun than Halloween II as well).

[Monterey Jack]

Young Frankenstein (1974): 10/10

Whatever happened to funny spoof movies? We used to get hilarious films like this, Airplane! and Top Secret!, but nowadays we get swill like Disaster Movie, Meet The Spartans and Vampires Suck.

[Paul MacLean]

Double Post

[Paul MacLean]

Interview With The Vampire

I only ever saw this once before, back in '95 on VHS, so I decided to give it another look, to get into the "holiday spirit".

This first time I saw this movie, I found it very compelling. This time around, while I found it an interesting story (and certainly far-better than Twilight!), it didn't have the same impact. The production is well-done, and well-acted (though Cruise and Pitt -- while good -- were probably not the best choices for the roles), it has great photography, costumes and art direction, and is overall definitely watchable. But despite the "gothic" look of much of the film, it doesn't really have much of of an "atmosphere" (gothic or otherwise). And while it is at times horrific (and gross!) it really isn't scary or creepy at all. In fact I'm not sure I'd even consider it a horror movie.

I didn't care for Elliot Goldenthal's score when I first saw the film, but in retrospect I have to say it is effective and well-written (and a masterpiece compared to just about anything written today). But I'd have loved to have seen this film with George Fenton's original score (hey, when is someone going to release that?).

[AndyDursin]

Never liked that film myself. Felt creepy -- as in, well, gross, instead of scary. Disliked the whole Banderas section.

Blah. Saw it once and never had any reason to revisit it!

[Monterey Jack]

I Spit On Your Grave (1978): 2/10

More like I Spit On This Movie. [ptoo!]