31 Days of Horror (Day 7)

31 Days of Horror

7. The Shining

I was originally going to save this until later on in the month since it's my favorite horror movie of all time but a discussion of this film in my Video Seminar prompted this viewing.  One aspect of the movie that I really appreciated this time was Nicholson's performance.  He does such a good job and his gradual insanity is a sight to behold.  I know that it can come across as a bit much depending on the viewing, but I think he did exactly what he needed to: ooze insanity.

And my god, those tracking shots.  This is one of my favorite movies of all time for a reason and a large part of that is due to being at the hand of Stanley Kubrick.  The tracking shot following Danny as he goes through the hotel on in his tricycle: pure magic.  The sound design of that scene, coupled with the intense conclusion, makes for one of the greatest scenes in any movie, ever.  Yes, it's that good.

31 Days of Horror (Day 6)

31 Days of Horror

6. The Omen

You know, I just realized that for my sixth movie in this series, it's about a movie that heavily features the number 6.  That was not on purpose but I suppose it worked out quite nicely.  Hell, even look at the above poster.  So many 6's.

Anyway, I haven't seen this movie in 10+ years and even then I believe I saw it on TV, so this was really my first legitimate experience with the film.  Let me just say: Wow.  What an awesome movie.  I just love how the story unfolds.  It does so in a way that is extremely appealing to me.  I love when the woman hangs herself, there's no set-up.  You don't see her climb to the roof.  You don't see her put the noose around her neck.  A lesser director would have included this to add tension but not here.  Instead you just hear her voice yell out for Damien, trying to get his attention before proclaiming "It's all for you..." Perfect.

31 Days of Horror (Day 5)

31 Days of Horror

5. The House of the Devil

Was recommended this one recently and, in all honesty, I thought this movie was from the 80's.  It's just immediately what popped in my head when I saw the cover.  Which I suppose is kudos to Ti West, since that's exactly what he was going for.  This movie feels like it was released alongside many of Carpenter's and Hooper's (hahaha) best.  And for that alone, I certainly can appreciate the care that was put into making it like those films.

Unfortunately though, I can't say I was a big fan of the film.  It moved at a snails pace and didn't really seem to have an idea where it was going.  I just kept waiting for something interesting to happen but nothing really does till nearly twenty minutes till the end.  And I saw the twist coming a mile away.  I will admit, I really liked the climax, but that was until the resolution settled in.  If they had just kept it faded to black, I would have liked the film.  Slow?  Sure.  But it would have been forgivable.  With the given ending though, the movie had no balls.  It manages to be just like many of the other movies that tried to mimic the success of Halloween/Friday the 13th/etc, it just fades in with the rest.

31 Days of Horror (Day 4)

31 Days of Horror

4. Psycho

And it's back to the classics.  I didn't originally plan on watching this but then I realized I had never watched it on Blu-Ray.  Given that I had the Blu-Ray, this was just inexcusable.  Dammit does this film look amazing in Hi-Def.  Of course the Black & White firmly grounds it in the 1960's, the dynamic range of grey's is unmatched.

But I'm not getting into that.  This is just a great movie.  Plain and simple.  If you haven't seen it, you need to immediately.  Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins are fantastic, with Hitchcock molding the film into a technical masterpiece.  I feel nothing more can be said other than: if you haven't seen this movie, go see it, if you have seen it, then go see it again.

31 Days of Horror (Day 3)

31 Days of Horror

3. Student Bodies

Let me start out by saying I had no idea this movie even existed until a few months ago.  Had I known about it, I would have watched it much sooner.  It's so ridiculous that it's actually pretty funny.  Sure, it's not mature but neither are a lot of good comedies.  This really takes the "Airplane" approach to the slasher genre and it pays off in many respects.  There are some lines are pure classics too.  The opening scene has some of the best moments of the entire film, so at least sit through that.

Unfortunately it's not all fun and games.  It's slow and the kills are uninspired.  Every guy dies the exact same way.  Many jokes aren't milked for what they're worth.  There's also not any character that you even remotely feel connected to.  Hell, I felt more attached to some of the one-dimensional Friday the 13th characters than I did these people.  Can't say I really blame the filmmakers though, that's clearly not what they were going for.  I just don't think it's too much to ask for one likable character.  The closest we got was a Woodshop Teacher with a weird fetish for Horse-head bookends. 

Also, how old is this cast?  And I'm not just talking about the clearly late twenties "high schoolers."  A majority of the cast consists of teachers/maintenance men/parents.  Which is where I think the movie misses the point.  How prominent are the adults in any other slasher movie?  Easy, they're not.  Yet this movie, which is supposedly parodying slashers, makes them practically a focal point.  The "teens" are there for there death scene and that's it.  A follow-up with the adults after nearly every death is where this film loses any credibility of being a true parody. 

Regardless, I'd recommend you give it a shot.  Sure, it's not incredible or even very good but has some funny moments and is yet another 80's "slasher" to mark off the list.

31 Days of Horror (Day 2)

31 Days of Horror

2. Fright Night

I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why this movie doesn't garner more praise.  I mean, did you seriously watch this movie?  It's awesome!  Wonderful tracking shots, fantastic dialogue, and a spot-on cast.  Farrell should always be a villain because he plays one perfectly.  You could tell that he fully thought of himself as a badass, and it played on screen.  It just resonates and makes for a much more interesting/terrifying villain.

Sure, David Tennant is no Peter Vincent, but the reinterpretation of the character can't really be viewed so harshly.  Looking at it in the grand scheme of both the film and the time/location, I absolutely understand the creative decisions taken with his character.  And this is coming from someone who considers Roddy McDowall's Peter Vincent to be one of the greatest characters in the history of cinema.

So please, give this movie a shot and appreciate all the care that was placed into making both a cool but refreshing horror movie where you're actually caring about the fates of the characters.  Crazy concept, I know right?

31 Days of Horror (Day 1)

It's that time of the year again. Scratch that, it's MY FAVORITE time of the year. That's right, it's October; the month of horror. And since my horror movie watching has gone down drastically the past six months, I figured I'd bring back a concept I tried Senior Year of High School: watching a horror movie every day of the month of October

31 DAYS OF HORROR

1. A Nightmare On Elm Street

I figured I'd start this one out right and do a classic as a solid start to my movie challenge. Add to that the fact that my girlfriend hadn't ever seen it and it's a match made in heaven.

The one thing that struck me this time that had never done so before was just how beautiful this film is. When I think of this, I think grainy, poorly lit, but done so with reason. This time however I saw the brilliant color schemes and truly beautiful shots. This can most likely be attributed to the fact that I viewed this for the first time in 1080p and dear god is this the best this film has ever looked. Makes me rather anxious to watch some of the others in the series in HD (Dream Warriors I'm looking at you, you beautiful bastard.)

As with most viewings, I just fell in love with this film all over again. And sure, the music is a bit dated and corny, but that just adds to the overall charm. Freddy's voice reverberates throughout the sound design and makes for a creepy atmosphere. I'd say the biggest thing to come out of this latest viewing is my appreciation for the technical aspect. Hell, Tina's death is absolutely beautiful.

I tend to not get very political in anything I write because simply...I don't like politics. I don't find it interesting and think that the system, at least here in the US, is incredibly broken. But I suppose this blog post could be considered political due to the topic at hand. But anyway, let's get into it.

Yesterday, May 1st, 2011 it was announced that Osama Bin Laden was dead. The leader of Al-Qaeda and person behind the September 11th attacks was finally killed. Almost ten years after the terrible events, this man finally got his comeuppance. Yet why am I so annoyed by the whole thing?

It's turned into a media circus. People are celebrating it for all the wrong reasons. Yay he's dead, he was an awful human being who will rot in hell. But what does it affect? Sure, people will become falsely patriotic for a period of time (just like after 9/11) but sooner rather than later, it'll fade into obscurity. And that's what pisses me off. People are out chanting "USA! USA!" and waving flags around yet where were they a few years ago? Ashamed of their country and what we stood for. Wanting to practically impeach our President and yet now, they couldn't be happier with him. Those taking shots in celebration after I've never heard them utter a single political thing in their life is disgusting. People just like to celebrate and this is as good a reason as any.

Then there's Obama. He's been shit on since starting his term by the American public but now, he's a hero. His approval ratings will go through the roof and the world as we know it will be changed forever. Except it won't be. This is the death of one person. Sure, it's great in the revenge category but as far as actually accomplishing something? As far as I'm concerned, we're still fighting in the Middle East with many of our soldiers dying on a daily basis. Nothing has been accomplished. We still live in the same horrible world we did a week ago. The only difference is that USA T-shirt sales will go up and Obama can be liked by all for a few minutes.