Continuing with What About The Twinkie’s Scarefest II, here is some essential Halloween viewing!
As a special treat for Halloween, myself, Zoe and Jade have all prepared our essential viewing selections for you to peruse. We have all picked three films that no Halloween night can do without, and that we find ourselves going back to each year without hestitaion. Check out our selections after the jump.
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I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve grown up on a staple diet of horror movies for years. I love the stuff, though there are so many crappy films in the genre, no character development, and a slew of other problems. Irrespective of, there have been some great monsters as far back as I can remember, a whole bunch that stick with you no matter what.
I decided to do a top ten movie monsters list (how original, I know). Naturally this is going to be one of those lists where there is such a vast array of monsters to choose from it is going to be grossly limited. Naturally this is not the definitive list or anything, just a list of ten awesome movie monsters. Anyway, here goes!
Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street films)
I am a massive Freddy Krueger fan (but the old and original Robert Englund stuff, mind, not this new age crap). Freddy is just totally the one thing you don’t want lingering or entering any which one of your dreams ever. Freddy plays with his prey before all sorts of bizarre and messed up executions, and everything for him is darkly, comically funny, not to mention that scary glove he runs around with!
Xenomorph (Alien films)
I honestly don’t think that I need to explain this. These things are scary as hell. Plus two, Alien: Isolation is not particularly helping matters either.
Dr Satan (House of 1000 Corpses)
The hell? House of 1000 Corpses is a crazy watch, and it definitely oozes darkness and horror. Something that was in no shortage throughout the film was messed up characters and devilish monsters. Dr Satan is no exception, he definitely gave me the chills! I would have a heart attack if I woke up and he was the first thing I saw!
Sam (Trick ‘r Treat)
I am a huge fan of Trick ‘r Treat, and I thought that Sam was one of the coolest creature things in a movie ever. Never talking, always just observing, waltzing around town, Sam is not someone you want to cross, or diss Halloween in front of.
Dementors (Harry Potter films)
While I was maybe not the biggest fan of these films (at all), and while they screwed the Dementors up more often than not (appearances and what they do), there was one of them that they got it right in, and knowing what I do about those things, they are nasty creatures you don’t want anywhere near you at any time, ever.
The Witch King of Angmar (The Lord of the Rings trilogy)
I think you are all familiar with my love of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I talk about it everywhere, as much as possible. High time to be watching it again, I think. Anyhow, the Nazgûl are terrifying monsters, really eerie, but the Witch King of Angmar takes the crown (he he) for this again because he is badass, scary, strong, powerful, backed by dark magics and forces and relentless to boot.
Lycans (Underworld films)
While some were not a fan of Rise of the Lycans, I thought it was a really fun movie, and I loved getting some more back-story on the Lycans. Besides that, I thought they looked really badass and cool in here, and they were awesome overall. An honourable mention here would be the werewolves in Trick ‘r Treat, apparently they were done by the same studios that did the Lycans in Rise of the Lycans.
Bagul / Mr Boogie (Sinister)
Because what the hell… that’s all. Didn’t expect to get something that packed this much punch from something like Sinister, but hey, I thought it was pretty good!
The Thing (The Thing)
Any one of the things in this movie. Come on, they were absolutely nasty, and could become anything, though the procedure was absolutely disgusting!
Zombies (Dawn of the Dead 2004 remake)
Because seriously… if zombies weren’t bad enough, let’s make them run like hell. Nope, heart attack waiting to happen.
SYNOPSIS: Aging, self-absorbed rock star Judas Coyne has a thing for the macabre – his collection includes sketches from infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, a trepanned skull from the 16th century, a used hangman’s noose, Aleister Crowley’s childhood chessboard, etc. – so when his assistant tells him about a ghost for sale on an online auction site, he immediately puts in a bid and purchases it.
The black, heart-shaped box that Coyne receives in the mail not only contains the suit of a dead man but also his vengeance-obsessed spirit. The ghost, it turns out, is the stepfather of a young groupie who committed suicide after the 54-year-old Coyne callously used her up and threw her away. Now, determined to kill Coyne and anyone who aids him, the merciless ghost of Craddock McDermott begins his assault on the rocker’s sanity. – via Goodreads
I am doing the synopsis thing because I really don’t want to have a spoiler out there, and anything that I say in a description just might do it. I would rather avoid it because really, this book is well worth the read. Another excellent read from Hill. Seeing as Heart-Shaped Box is his debut novel, it is extremely impressive. I was hooked from page one, and couldn’t put it down until I was done with it. I must admit that this one seems to have a lot of similarities with his father’s work. I don’t mean the story or the content so much as I am referring to the writing style. Heart-Shaped Box flows and it tells a great story, keeps you hooked from the off. I admit that I am officially a fan of Hill and his work. I absolutely adored Horns, so logically I decided to work through his other stuff, and it is rewarding. Jude presented an interesting character, that went from unlikable to someone I could understand, and on to someone who was actually not a bad person, but definitely in hiding, in his own shell. Georgia grew on me, too. Initially she is nothing worth writing home about, too bitchy, angry at the world, the whole shebang. The relationship that developed between them was bizarre – it started from being just sex and a little ridiculous, then blossoming into anger and love, and then moving on to something beautiful. I loved the concept of the nightroad, and Hill implemented this perfectly. There were scenes that ran chills through me because they were both creepy and executed perfectly (the best one being when Danny called Jude from the phone booth). It’s great for me, too, that music is referenced so much in this book. I love music, and being another book of his that references music so much, I take it that Hill, too, is passionate about it. The books flows wonderfully, and the plot moves along nicely, too. Nothing becomes too complicated, and Hill lets you in on the relevant information you need just before the mystery becomes frustrating, so he is very good at building and maintaining momentum. All I can say is that if you have never read Hill’s work before, or are interested, you really cannot go wrong with this.
I participated in Kieron’s Scarefest II over at What About The Twinkie. Head on over to check out my review for Trick ‘r Treat!
Trick ‘R Treat
You know, it took me years to get to this thing because I am not really an Anna Paquin fan (though I am thawing a little). A fellow blogger finally twisted my arm enough to at least just try it, and it pretty much instantly became an absolute favourite of mine! This is essential Halloween viewing for me every year, and I don’t think that there will be many horror fans that don’t like this one. Trick ‘r Treat is tremendously underrated, something that makes this an even better gem in my opinion, but undeniably one that deserves the praise it has garnered and to be shared.
“Samhain, also known as All Hallows’ Eve, also known as Halloween. Pre-dating Christianity, the Celtic holiday was celebrated on the one night between autumn and winter when the barrier between the living and the dead was thinnest, and often involved…
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Well, hell. JB and I had a very dramatic, over long and weepy scheduling problem with this post, so we’re having to post this on an irregular day and both of our OCDs are really acting up. I hope we can make it through this….. ARGH… Anyway – this is the Star Trek with F Murray Abraham and his plastic skin. It’s time for us to present the first ever Zuts True Story Factoid™®!!!
*The skin stretching presented in this movie was, in fact, Abraham’s real skin. At 146 years of age, he was the oldest man to ever star in a Science Fiction Movie, much to the delight of the Prop Department.*
And there you have The Truth!!! Let’s see what JB thought about this thing….
SYNOPSIS: When the crew of the Enterprise learn of a Federation conspiracy against the inhabitants of a unique planet, Captain Picard begins an open rebellion. – via IMDB
Well… it’s Wednesday, and here’s our latest entry .
Scheduling conflicts are a bitch. I think the Chop and I are going to need some counselling after this just to get back to a happy place, but anyways. We are not here to talk about our issues. We are here to talk about what we thought of Insurrection.
Well, Insurrection was disappointing overall. There were very few things that I liked about it, more that I just found boring, but hey! I got to get my Halloween nails ready during this! That makes me happy. 😀
To be very honest, this plot is so ludicrous is makes The Voyage Home whale plot look like some seriously in depth stuff. Basically, desperate to stop the skin stretching and plastic surgery, the Son’a decide to go to war to take over an amazing planet that will maintain their youth. No more stretchy sessions!
Anyway. obviously things would not go their way, and this result in Picard and his people staging a rebellion against the Son’a and the Federation that is backing them. Yada, yada, yada. Whatever…
Then Riker and Deanna were getting all cushy, out of nowhere (I suppose this is another relationship that needed to be seen from the show first), Data wanted to be a kid (always wanting to be something he isn’t), Worf had a seriously bad time with going back to hit puberty, Geordi got his eyes back (his reaction to his first sunrise was beautiful though) and Picard got in touch with his lustier and younger side again. Not only was he dancing, which made me laugh, I then found this gif. Perfection.
The movie improved more toward the end of it, got a little more, erm… exciting, I guess? The pacing was crappy, the humour wasn’t grand, the plot was flimsy at best and I was not overjoyed with this one. I am actually going to strop trying to say something about this weak entry to the Star Trek franchise…
This movie is so fucking boring,… I’m going to try something new here….
Hey guys!
So Natasha over at Life of this City Girl is doing an awesome Marvel run, getting reviews from guests as well as watching a bunch of the Marvel movies herself to post on Mondays. Some of you have seen this and gotten involved, some of you haven’t. If you haven’t, you should totally get cracking on this, it’s been really fun! Goodness knows there are a million Marvel movies and we have all seen a bunch – a load we like, and a load that sucked. Either way, let’s each grab one of these films and try and get a review for all of them!
You can read the rules here, but basically it boils down to a review!
(Mikey, Melissa, I really thought Howard the Duck would have been snatched up by one of you!! I mean really now?!)
Anyhow, here is a list of the movies. Drop her a mail at natashastander@gmail.com or comment here to let her know which film you would like to talk about! Much fun people, much fun, let’s do this! 🙂
| Title: | Year: |
| Captain America | 1944 |
| Howard the Duck | 1986 |
| The Punisher | 1989 |
| Captain America | 1990 |
| Blade | 1998 |
| X-Men | 2000 |
| Spider-Man | 2002 |
| Daredevil | 2003 |
| X2 | 2003 |
| Hulk | 2003 |
| The Punisher | 2004 |
| Spider-Man 2 | 2004 |
| Blade: Trinity | 2004 |
| Elektra | 2005 |
| Man-Thing | 2005 |
| Fantastic Four | 2005 |
| X-Men: The Last Stand | 2006 |
| Ghost Rider | 2007 |
| Spider-Man 3 | 2007 |
| Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | 2007 |
| Iron Man | 2008 |
| The Incredible Hulk | 2008 |
| Punisher: War Zone | 2008 |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | 2009 |
| Iron Man 2 | 2010 |
| Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance | 2012 |
| Marvel’s The Avengers | 2012 |
| The Amazing Spider-Man | 2012 |
| Iron Man 3 | 2013 |
| The Wolverine | 2013 |
| Thor: The Dark World | 2013 |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 |
| The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | 2014 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 2014 |
Spoilers if you haven’t watched this! You have been warned!
Criminal Minds brought some heavy things to the table what with The Boston Reaper/Haley/Hotchner, and the tension that reigned supreme was almost too intense. After getting so tense, our hearts were crushed when The Reaper killed Haley, though we were vindicated when Hotchner took him down with his bare hands. Moving on from that, we had to get used to Hotch, broken and defeated and floundering, though he found his footing for his son Jack. When Halloween rolled around and Jack decided on his Halloween costume, you cannot deny the adorable factor that it owned.
If you have a scene that you would like featured, drop me a mail at sporadiczoe@hotmail.com with a picture/gif/video of the scene and an explanation as to why (should you want to include it).
Hey everyone! Question of the Month time again, and Luke picked a great Halloween themed question! Head on over to check it out!
And so it begins. Halloween here at the Oracle of Film. Tomorrow, we have my review of Paranormal Activity, joined up with [.REC] over at What About the Twinkie (depending on how well his organisational skills are – touch wood!) But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because what would Halloween be without the scariest, creepiest people on the internet, combined into one article about horror movies. Forget Stalker Saturdays; we have just entered the domain of Stalker Sundays, people!
The question is as follows: What thing you would add to a horror movie to make it a perfect horror? This could be a phobia you want to see exploited. What movie monster would reduce you to a whimpering mess? It could be a director that hits the mark every time he attempts a horror movie. Or maybe it is a stock character that you think makes a horror movie…
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“A reality is just what we tell each other it is.”
– Linda Styles
SYNOPSIS: An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer’s books have on his fans is more than inspirational. – via IMDB
I absolutely love this movie, I am a big fan of it. The first time I saw it a few years ago, it just ticked all the boxes of things I love in a movie. It was just awesome, and it doesn’t get old after repeat viewings. This is one of those tremendous and beloved old horrors that I just can’t get enough of. I adored the concept of this film – that a writer and his work could drive the world cuckoo crazy and insane. It was all about the writing, the lack of faith, the investigation into a missing author, the gruesome discoveries that Trent makes along the way, and the way Styles is convinced that Cane’s work is real… there is just way too much to love here! The monsters were nasty and Cane was delusional, Sam Neill delivered a fantastic performance, and there was an abundance of creepy and weird going on at any given moment in the film. You never really get a handle on what is going on, and there is a dash of cheese to this, but in t hat totally acceptable kind of way. I was hooked from the get-go, and my other half had a grand time with this, too, so I am not totally biased 😉 Carpenter was the horror king, and gave us many grand films to watch over the years, and I will always enjoy that. I thoroughly enjoyed the effects and the camera work, and the score worked wonderfully with it all, too. I know I am gushing, but there was so much to like in this one. This Apocalypse Trilogy, though, was just one of those super special ones, and I can see myself watching these quite a few more times, though the final entry remains my favourite of the lot. Solid acting, some goofy events, some creepy moments, insane monsters, pretty amusing dialogue, and a journey that is just different, In The Mouth of Madness offers it all to its viewers. I feel that this is a seriously under-appreciated film, and wish that more people had seen it.
Alrighty then folks, another Friday, another review, we are moving along with these things! Let me just say that this has been an absolute blast, and you must all keep your eyes peeled for upcoming collaborations 😉 Anyway, we have moved on to our second Star Trek film for the Next Gen lot. So… did we share a collective conscious on this one?
SYNOPSIS: They call themselves the Borg – a half-organic, half-machine collective, with a sole purpose: to assimilate and conquer all races. Led by their seductive and sadistic queen, the Borg are headed to Earth with a devious plan to alter history. After an epic battle against the Borg, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise follow the Borg Sphere back into the 21st century, and must battle the Borg Queen before she assimilates mankind. Meanwhile, Picard and his crew must make sure that Zefram Cochrane makes his historic maiden flight at warp speed, and makes Earth’s first contact. – via IMDB
So First Contact is (again) not my favourite in the Next Gen repertoire, but there were some cool things that could have been front and centre but then things just went all over the show and the point was lost. It all starts with this pretty cool sequence of Jean Luc Picard looking all scary and stuff as a Borg. Like super cool. Hopping back into the past, I must say that the new crew did not succeed in doing so as much as the original crew did in The Voyage Home in terms of laughter and entertainment. However, First Contact did boast the stronger story, that cannot be denied.
There were some cool effects, and I was really wishing that I had seen more of the series for the Borg section to resonate with me more, though I didn’t actually have trouble following it. As you can tell from the gifs that I have used and the ones you will see, I was more taken with the Borg aspect of this than whatever the hell was going on down on Earth. I thought that was a bland storyline, and as much as I enjoy James Cromwell, I thought this role was cringeworthy for him.
Data did not work on my absolute last nerve in this one, so yay on that front (sorry Data fans – it has been established that he’s like a knock off Spock – in the movies, at any rate). He was actually quite cool for this story, and fit right in there. However, there was one pretty sketchy scene – I did not want to know that Data had the relevant working sexual component and that he had used it in the past. Dammit. I could have done without that nasty knowledge.
Those Borg were creepy at the best of times, I thought they looked awesome. They were like crazy weird space zombies *shiver*. I mean just imagine that. Yes, yes I am fascinated with this concept, no two ways about it!
There were some really cool scenes in here, and I was a fan of them walking all over the Enterprise to mess with the Borg plan and all that, I had fun there. I must say, there were plenty little things that made First Contact way more enjoyable and fun, I just really feel that the Earth aspect was pointless, and the movie would not have suffered for it not being there. Actually, in my opinion, they could almost have written a tighter story for the Borg plan as well as the Enterprise crew’s resistance. But no. Let’s have some dancing alcoholic be the sub plot. Thanks. So much potential.
Then let’s not forget my absolute favourite bit of the movie: Picard being all super badass as a thirties-style mobster. I loved the concept, the costumes, and the way the whole scene came together. Hell yeah, it was pretty epic!
Anyway, the story was very good (granted that the whole Earth thing was pretty boring for me), and the acting wasn’t too bad. I thoroughly enjoyed the Borg aspect to this (though I am sure that you all noted that throughout my little write up here), and the movie touted some pretty decent effects. I thought the war up on the Enterprise was great, and seeing Picard get all pissy was great, the fights and the lessons he learned. I was so on board with that. Until it went back to Cromwell, who sadly just let me down. Nope, not happy with that bit. Overall, I thought this one came together quite well and I think it’s totally worth watching.
When I first went and saw this in the theater – I remember coming out of there thinking “GOD DAMN!!! That was a good movie!!” And then I never watched it again. Maybe a little bit here and there but, I just never returned to it. Probably because TNG isn’t my favorite crew. Although I really do like Captain Picard! Frakes and Spiner just grate my last fucking nerve. And this had a lot of Frakes in it. Oh – and Data having sex. Well – not on screen. There’s no machine on machine humping but it’s implied that he gets it on with the Borg Queen. Go, Robot Weenie, GO!!!!
Anyways, I watched this again yesterday and I have to say – well – let’s do this – for ALL of the shit that happens up in space, I give this Five Happy Picards (out of five):
He’s fucking awesome up there! Yelling and shouting and telling Whorf to “GET OFF MY BRIDGE!” and I loved it that he took it on himself to go find a way to remodulate the weapons and “HAND TO HAND COMBAT IF THEY MUST!!!!” and “THE LINE HAS TO BE DRAWN HERE!!!” He was a total badass!
But then, I have to address everything that happens down on Earth. I found all of that shit VERY lame and I give it Two Unamused Picards (out of Five):
I mean, shit! James Cromwell irritated the fuck out of me and the dancing and will Frakes EVER shut the fuck up and what’s with that stupid hat on Cronwell’s head didn’t The Borg send some Borgs down to the planet where are they and did that Vulcan really drink his rot gut tequila and ugh. Overall – I did enjoy myself but it’s not as good as I remember.
And – because I can:
P.S. The Borg Queen is sexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxy. I would totally – well never mind.
The Sporadic Chronicles 