It’s Halloween party time! And you all love your scary movies. So enjoy this double feature, and the additional suggestions! There is a lot of good movies out there. I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!
All Hallow’s Eve
Heh heh. Count Potato won the Every Thursday is Halloween lottery tonight! I seriously thought about messing with all of you and posting this All Hallow’s Eve instead. Is this not what you wanted, my fellow sausage party attendees? They are cute young girls…
So, since All Hallow’s Eve is the official audience selection for Halloween, it gets the guest review. This time, it is a long review from EyesMalloy, from which I pulled two paragraphs:
Given the overwhelming popularity of shockfests like Martyrs and the Saw series, the nearly universal disapproval of this film is itself shocking. It’s strange how some films can make their mark for the very things that cause others to be rebuked. All Hallows’ Eve is low budget and has its mistakes, but overall is a wonderful, very scary exploitation horror film with a memorable villain and surprisingly good production values.
All Hallows’ Eve is an anthology film. Like most horror anthologies such as Tales From the Darkside: The Movie, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Trick R’ Treat, All Hallows’ Eve has three main stories plus a wraparound story that ties them together. Director Damien Leone chose this format to showcase his pre-existing short films (“The 9th Circle” and “Terrifier”), so only the second story and the wraparound are totally new. The film opens with a woman babysitting two children on Halloween night and the discovery that someone has sneaked a VHS tape into one of the children’s trick-or-treat bags. Reluctantly the babysitter plays the tape and the first of three stories begins.
I do know that Art the Clown is not to everyone’s taste (see previous Terrifier movie post), but hey! It’s a double feature. Try a different film if you desire. After all, everything is voluntary.
The Blob (1988)
This is my personal choice for the night. How many of you knew The Blob was remade in 1988? And that is was actually really good! This had a very short shelf life because people (to this day) love the original Blob movie. And people generally hate reboots. I will tell you this is the rarest of films, a great remake. It had a much higher special effects budget and pulled off some great scenes. Give it a watch. At the very least it will make people do a double take if you put it on at a party. I got to see this in the theater during its ten minute theatrical run. Anybody else?
And Now for All the Rest…
And now for the list! There is a lot of interesting stuff out there right now. Watch it or don’t! Everything is voluntary and your mileage may vary. Also there are no refunds.
- House on Haunted Hill: Yes, that house on Haunted hill. The Synthwave group went in and put a whole new electro-goth soundtrack on it, tinted the scenes purple, red, etc… and threw in a few more surprises. Excellent movie for watching at a bar. The dialog is hard to hear over the new soundtrack, but… I would think everyone knows about this one. If not, here is the original.
- Weedjies: Halloweed Night: C’mon. You guys are libertarians. I know what’s up. Enjoy Weedjies. It was better than I thought it would be so it made the list.
- Monster House: Underrated animated film about a house that eats people and the kids who want to stop it. Yes, this is one for the kids. I always throw one in there on Halloween for anyone watching kids tonight. I am glad this one finally made free streaming.
- Miasma: Brand spanking new. Not even a review out for it. Horror comedy from the Netherlands about a demonic entity that kills with flatulence. Of course I have to put it on the list. Pull my finger and watch the film! Warning: I put this on the list blind.
- BONUS SHORT FILM: This is funny. It fits for Halloween, so it sits!
That is a massive SEVEN FILMS for you all this night. I haven’t done anything like that in a long time. I am going to go ahead and stop there, and I hope you all have an excellent Halloween party weekend. And if you are going nowhere this weekend, enjoy these films at home.
So watch! Or don’t! Everything is voluntary! if you don’t want kids to enact your labor for candy this weekend, keep your porch lights off. Next week, we move into November, and I did find a number of interesting movies to show.
Wooooooooo!
I’ve seen The Blob remake and it is indeed good.
Given that it’s a parable for Communism, it’s the perfect time for a re-watch.
I know I’ve seen the remake, but I forget, did they keep the original theme song?
You’re going to make me cry.
It’s too late.
Well, Body Snatchers is even more the Communism threat. So much that SNL got it backwards and had a skit about Reagan pod people.
“Anybody else?”
I’ve seen it, and it benefits from 30 years technology, I like the original better, but still worth seeing.
No but I did see it on cable a long time ago and it’s good. Never saw the original.
Ah, what the hell.
*presses play*
If you never seen All Hallow’s Eve, I’d watch that.
Not surprisingly, the original “The Blob” is behind a paywall for Halloween.
I knew Kevin Dillon was in this (I approve) but Shawnee Smith! Way pre-Saw, neat.
Maybe over the weekend. Tonite I prefer fare I don’t have to pay as much attention to.
“Not surprisingly, the original “The Blob” is behind a paywall for Halloween.”
I blame the government.
R.J./Common Tater:
I believe you can find it on archive.org.
Yesterday, I actually walked by the theater in Phoenixville where they filled the scene of the Blob devouring the audience.
😱
*Summons dramatic ground squirrel
OG House on Haunted Hill is a solid film. Weird Rifftrax did it, but whatever.
Monster House is super fun — and I have a very tenuous connection to it. It was written by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. Harmon is known as the man behind Community and Rick and Morty. Schrab is known for his SCUD: The Disposable Assassin comic series and The Sarah Silverman Program. They grew up in Milwaukee and performed at ComedySPORTS with a friend of mine by the name Sean McKenna. Sean and I were creative partners at an agency for a few years. He, the writer and I the art director. I told you it was tenuous.
“Six Degrees of Malaise”
**** Rifftrax. I’d rather watch films and reach my own judgment.
The remake isn’t bad. The remake of Haunting of Hill House has a great cast and sucks.
The remake isn’t bad. The Haunting of Hill House remake has a great cast and sucks.
So nice he said it twice! You got some R.J. Syndrome going on there.
Alfred Hitchcock had birds, Ben and Willard had rats, how about squirrels?
Zombeaver got close.
There’re both rodents, rats singing Christmas carols wouldn’t have worked.
Just introduced the girlfriend to another anthology horror film: Tales of Halloween. 10 little short films with some crossover of characters, but otherwise unlinked. Leans much more towards comedy than it’s most frequent competition, Trick ‘r Treat.
And people generally hate reboots.
And yet people love the John Carpenter version of The Thing.
That’s because most people don’t realize it’s a remake.
Probably true of most remakes.
I wonder where the line lies. Is Dredd a remake of Judge Dredd, or a readaptation of the original material? Is The Magnificent Seven a remake of Seven Samurai?
Or might be aware it’s a remake but were never motivated to see the original, like me.
The last Dredd movie was part of an attempted modernization of the character. 2000 AD released a series of Dredd comics as a splinter off of the original, grittier and with the new look.
It did not take off.
Someone here was arguing Carpenter’s The Thing wasn’t a remake.
darnit, now I want to see the Magnificent Seven Samurai.
@ Tater – It might have been regarded as a readaptation of “Who Goes There” rather than a remake of “The Thing From Another World”
Magnificent Seven was clearly a remake – same plot, same beats.
Dredd was a readaptation – same world and character but utterly different story.
(I really liked Dredd)
I would say Dredd was a reattempt at the source material. I would say the same about each of the four different Spider-Man movie series (Raimi, Webb, MCU, Spiderverse) as well as the three different Fantastic 4 attempts (Fox, Trank, MCU).
Ocean’s Eleven was much better the 2nd time around.
That was my experience, too. After seeing the remake, I tried to watch the original on TCM but got bored and bailed.
Yeah, they sussed out the plot better in the rehash. The original seemed like a vehicle to get together to drink, and get paid for it.
People crap all over TIm Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which I like) but it’s not a remake either — it’s was a new adaptation of the original material. Burton used Dahl’s original song lyrics which were replaced in the Gene Wilder version for the Oompa Loompa song. The Wilder version is great but does lack a central conflict and no characters actually change. At all (other than the bad kids who get disappeared, etc.) At the very least in Burton’s version Charlie is the hero (does not change) and Wonka the protagonist (must change).
I hated it the first time, but I was compelled to watch it a second time & recognized some of that but I am not one to “analyze” movies to much of an extent. I just watch for pleasure and the remake/reboot whatever was just a weirdly unpleasant watch the first time. The original is just pure comfort food.
I didn’t hate the Burton one. I thought the dad/dentist thing didn’t need to be in there, but overall it was fun. I will also admit I gave the Wonka prequel a shot, and didn’t hate it.
I checked out a few minutes in. Maybe I’m not ready for it yet.
The Dad/Dentist conflict is central to Willy’s growth as a character. He hates the concept of “family” because his father didn’t support him. It’s a bit expected/weak sauce as a plot point for sure, but without it, the entire structure of the character’s arc falls apart. The terrible kids and their parents reinforced his beliefs about how families are the source of pain and misery, but Charlie’s purity and loving family finally convinces him to reconcile with his own father. His self-exile into isolation transforms him into the weird MIchael Jackson-esque character he is at the beginning of the story. He lives in his own odd, distorted bubble. By the end, he ends up moving Charlie’s entire family (and home) into the factory and they all live together there as a new, different family.
Having read Dahl’s original song lyrics from the book, I am glad the movie changed them:
https://www.roalddahlfans.com/dahls-work/books/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/oompa-loompa-songbook/
It’s like if Dr. Seuss was written by Charles Manson. If Manson was still alive and I was president, he’d be my secretary of war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XREnvJRkif0
Wonder if there are more Madagascar cockroaches in Hollywood than Madagascar?
I’m obsessed with the song Creature with the Atom Brain.
See, it’s about an alien… with a big-brain head… just like RJ…
Having not seen it, I choose All Hallows Eve (2013).
*judo chops play button*
Oddly, my official theme song has nothing to do with aliens.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QKYREsz6AlQ&pp=0gcJCXICo7VqN5tD
now I have cramps.
I have returned from the middle schoolers’ orchestra performance. It was a lot of fun. The drive home was particularly peeveful for some reason. Mostly Dad telling his old ‘war stories’ (Basic at Ft. Leanardwood in ’72. And Reserves meetings for like… 2 years? Nothing at all (considering).
The performances were, for the most part, remarkably shitty, but interesting in their own right. We’re thrilled the 11yo, who pretty much had select muteness until recently, performed with the band in public, big step for him. (Not this event, particularly, but each step counts.) Got to fool around with the 6yo outside, away from the other parents and all other adults. Well, a black woman was scolding her 6-8yo on a bench for misbehaving in some way, but I was away from my brothers divorced mother/father in laws, and SiL’s younger brother and her cousin (whom I now wish I knew…). Glad I didn’t hear their chat, cuz I’d have nothing to contribute.
A good time for gracious gratitude, cuz after all day out, I’m ‘home’ w Blackhawks/ Detroit on (OOOH! Penalty shot time!) and I can be me on my own terms with other folk for the first time today. Big thanks to TPTB and everyone else, lurkers, too.
Dad also opened that if he were given a vote to decide the Sexiest Man, he’d do it based on the guy’s bench press. Exasperated Mom explained again to him how there’s more to it than that. ‘Who’s on First?,’ this ain’t.
Yes. There’s more to being the Sexiest Man Alive. You have to have skills on the leg press too.
I’m the Sexiest Man Alive.
I haven’t paid the slightest attention to what’s-his-name other than the Librarians repeats they’re showing on old-people TV lately so I have no idea what is supposed to be so sexy about him now. Some woke shit, most likely given current year.
I’ve been seeing complaints that it’s ‘just pandering to Boomers and GenX’. I don’t think I’ve ever given even the smallest iota of a shit for who someone decides is the sexiest person alive (unless they chose me).
Well, somebody chose Ted.
Might have been…
Ted.
I am not the answer to that question, and I’m not sure I’d like to be. I’d certainly like to be considered Sexy and many other things, but “Most?” Lotta pressure and I don’t want the attention. (Or I don’t think I don’t? 🤔)
Is there really any “pressure”? Nobody reads “People” anymore.
I admit, I’d be a *lovely* project for an Elizabeth Hurley type. I’m totes adorbs, expressive and always a positive sparkle, though completely unobtrusive and can slink without nary a sound, perfectly ‘out of your way.’
Classified ads to come. Lithe and lonely? Call Ev, Vigorous yet Cuddly. (Requirement: Lithe (Or just ‘thin?’))
🤔 That could work.
Tell them you’re wiry.
I don’t see Raven here, but this needs to be in the AM links.
This needs to happen semi regularly in the U.S. Congress.
It would be healthy.
Timely since I’ve been binging Mannix on Prime Video. Krekor Ohanian fans rejoice!
Mannix is awesome. It was on cable not too long ago, and then it wasn’t on anymore.
My first day on the new job went well. It seems easy. Just plugging cables, bolting parts together, and putting on stickers.
a zombie short film (part 1):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ij0Jwt_DCs
an alien invasion short film (part 1):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21JdHIwJD-g
I’m glad to hear this. At Intake, part of my duties were to take stickers *off.* I don’t have the nails for it, though I did enjoy the staple-removing wand.
song – the zombie prostitute (animated music video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm74weOv04g
the best part of a zombie(?) movie every glib should see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf9V-yzCzR4
Wilhelm Scream at 00:43.
For the 80s New Wave fans, Israel has a New Order party.
They stole that line from Bush.
Surprised you didn’t link this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLbaOLWjpc
RJ – I’m disappointed your GIF at the top has not been altered yet to have you eating out of a Dune popcorn bucket.
Well, I have to go see Dune first. If I get a bucket I’ll re-shoot it.
Are those movies any good? Everyone looks like a twerp.
The first and second were visually stunning. The story adheres closely to the book. They seem to do a good job of explaining the whole world in an efficient way, but I already know the book. Don’t know how it is for someone new to the story.
Acting was mostly good in my opinion.
I find Dune to be rather tedious, but I get that I am in the minority.
Common Tater:
The first two have been decent. Some changes from the book that weren’t too terrible.
However, the trailer for the third movie is… concerning.
I remember reading Dune and wondering how Hollywood would handle Baron Harkonnen, since the book portrays him as cruel, fat, pederast. Especially the last part.
If I was really mean-spirited, I’d march in gay pride parade while just as Harkonnen.
***
Travis Johnson of Flicks.com.au says that Harkonnen is written as “a predatory homosexual given to pederasty and incest, an unrepentant rapist and murderer.”[18] The Baron’s sexual preference for young men is implied in Dune and Children of Dune.
***
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Harkonnen
So this is some shit I have to watch three movies?
As best as I can recall the first movies are part 1 and 2 of the first novel.
The novels beyond that become less good.
I’m not sure that I will bother with the 3rd movie.
They are good. Timothee would not have been my choice but he’s a good actor so he got it done. I don’t remember anyone else. Visuals are stunning as mentioned.
I did not know a third was coming. I haven’t read that book so no idea what to expect.
I adored the original book. Long, meaty, full of intrigue. I hadn’t read anything (by choice) like it before when I was in HS.
*dressed as, a cruel…
It’s funny that I slur words when drunk typing.
Common Tater:
Yes. If you want to watch Dune 3, you should probably watch Dune 1 and Dune 2.
The homosexual villain was such a stock character pre-woke that I just rolled my eyes and moved on even when I read it in the eighties. I don’t recall how nu-Hollywood dealt with him in the newer version.
“Implied”?
It was pretty darn explicit from what I recall.
I liked the first Dune and was looking forward to the second.
The bullshit they pulled with Chani’s character had me decide to wait to see the third one once I could watch it at home.
The trailer for the third one has me thinking about not watching it.
It is very well filmed however.
I haven’t seen the trailer. I would probably have to switch to more mainstream television that isn’t showing a constant stream of sick kids, dying dogs, and Medicare commercials.
Buffalo and Anaheim are tied at 3 with a minute left in the first. I know you don’t care, but it’s an option. It really isn’t, cuz apparently 90% of hockey is now on Disney+, which I do have access to. I used to get St. Louis games on FSN all the time. No more. Me no likey.
Who thought Kirk would outlive Pecard? If I were Scott Bakula or that black guy I’d get my shit together.
We did Lifeforce alreay, but do it again or what else?
And Kirk is about to release a Metal album…
\oo/
I want whatever they’re feeding Kirk cuz that guy is legend.
No offense to the also legendary Picard but that black guy is also great and goddamn it so is Janeway.
Well shit, now the TNG dieoff is starting.
I think that means we’re old.
At least we still have Wesley for many years to come, God willing.
Damn. Alzheimer’s. He was working up until 3 years ago.
His politics sucked, but I still have quite the fondness for him. His widow isn’t too shabby either.