Halloween Horror Marathon 2013

[Monterey Jack]

Trick 'R Treat (2008): 8/10



As blasphemous as it might be to admit, I prefer this horror anthology to Creepshow, which is a half-hour and two stories too long (I could have lived without the "I Want My Cake!" and cockroach segments)...I love the way the stories in this one overlap and intersect, and Douglas Pipes provides a fun, creepy score based around that old "Give me something good to eat..." childhood jingle.

[AndyDursin]

Why is it blasphemous? CREEPSHOW is kind of boring and I don't think most genre fans even consider it to be that strong of a movie. Certainly isn't regarded as a classic.

[Monterey Jack]

Why is it blasphemous? CREEPSHOW is kind of boring and I don't think most genre fans even consider it to be that strong of a movie. Certainly isn't regarded as a classic.

Most horror-related forums tend to hold Creepshow in very high regard, but that's probably due to the Stephen King/George Romero pairing, and the fact that there aren't that many horror anthologies to choose from. Personally, there's only one truly great segment in Creepshow ("Something To Tide You Over"), two solid ones ("The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verill", "The Crate") and two I could have done without (the "I Want My Cake!" and disgusting cockroach ones). And at a full two hours, it's ridiculously overlong. Trick 'R Treat is comparatively fat-free, doesn't wallow in excess violence for its own sake, and I love how the various segments connect with each other. I never saw Creepshow until around 2008 or so (although I have vivid memories of reading the graphic novel adaptation in high school), and I too found it a bit on the pokey side. I think some people just automatically connect it to the later Tales From The Crypt series.

[AndyDursin]

It's interesting because it didn't exactly light the world on fire when it was released -- it was pretty much considered a disappointment because the critical reviews were mixed at best, the box-office wasn't very good either. I can see with their names attached that it has a rep among certain viewers just because, but it's not a very good film really in either its direction, performances, music or anything else. The fact that nobody has ever bothered to give it more than vanilla, no-frills video releases in this country shows there's really not much of a following for it, despite the King/Romero teaming, which IMO promised way more than it delivered.

I'll say something far more blasphemous -- the zombies notwithstanding, I don't think Romero is a very good director -- at all!

[Monterey Jack]

Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988): 4/10



Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989): 1.5/10



I knew I should have stopped with the second one.

[AndyDursin]

They're both bad. VI is marginally better than 4, if only because you have Paul Rudd and a few effective scenes. It's certainly not good, and the movie was really worked over with re-shoots, but if you've made it this far, you might as well finish the "old" series off with it.

[Monterey Jack]

Night Of The Creeps (1986): 8/10



Delightfully 80's horror/comedy, with great F/X and lots of laughs. You can definitely see how much influence it had on Slither two decades later.

[AndyDursin]

YES Love the creeps. Unfortunately I tried showing it to our friend Paul and he fell asleep midway through and didn't finish it.

I also love Jill Whitlow.

[Monterey Jack]

I also love Jill Whitlow.

Yep...there were no babes quite like 80's babes.

Too bad the version I watched via Fearnet had the "shock" theatrical ending, which is kind of a downer. I'll have to pick this up on Blu-Ray at some point.

[AndyDursin]

I HATE the theatrical version ending. So did everyone including the director...def pick up the Blu-Ray. Tons of good extras also!

[Paul MacLean]

Yep...there were no babes quite like 80's babes.

You must be joking!

[Monterey Jack]

That black "x" is really convincing.

[Paul MacLean]

That black "x" is really convincing.

Need more convincing?

[AndyDursin]

I'm plenty convinced

[Paul MacLean]

Well...Fast Times at Ridgemont High is from 1982, so culturally we were still in the 70s!

When I think "80s Girls" I think Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Martha Plimpton, Grace Jones, Kelly McGillis, the nerdy girl in St. Elmo's Fire, etc. They never really did it for me.

Ok, Olvia D'Abo was very fetching in The Wonder Years, as was Jamie Gertz in The Lost Boys. And Kerri Green gets points for reminding me of the love of my life. But that's about it!