Tales From The Crypt (1972)

OCTOBER 31, 2007GENRE: ANTHOLOGY, BRITISHSOURCE: THEATRICAL (BACKYARD SCREENING!)I was all prepared to skip a “new” movie today, in honor of the date and my beloved Halloween. But someone in heaven, probably Peter Cushing himself, said that wasn’t acceptable, and for the first time in 2 years, I got out of work early enough to go do something I was invited to do on a night I had to work late, in this case, a screening of the 1972 Tales From The Crypt in my buddy’s backyard. Usually, if I have nothing to do, I get out around 7, 730 and sit around bored, but if I DO have something to do, I ge

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Anthology, British,

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October Extras #32 - Halloween (1978)

OCTOBER 31, 2007GENRE: SLASHERSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)LAST SEEN: 2006 (THEATRICAL)In the FAQ, which I am beginning to suspect no one has actually read (considering THREE people just this week were unaware that I truly AM watching a horror movie or two every single day, not just reviewing one from memory), I specifically point out Halloween as being a film that I won’t review, because not only have I seen it (obviously), but there are enough reviews of it on the web. But then I began doing the “October Extras” feature, and obviously I wouldn’t let the film’s namesake holiday pass without

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Carpenter, Halloween Series, Holiday, October Extras, Slasher,

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Andrea MacPherson's "Beyond the Blue"

Andrea MacPherson is the author of four books: two novels, When She Was Electric (Raincoast, 2003) and Beyond the Blue (Random House, 2007) and two poetry collections, Natural Disasters (Palimpsest Press, 2007) and Away (Signature Editions, 2008).Earlier this year she put the Page 69 Test to Beyond the Blue; here she imagines the dream cast for a film adaptation of the novel:I’ve always thought about novels in a cinematic way: pan to the long, lingering sun-bleached fields. Tight focus on the way the loom whirs and spins, how the hand is acutely aware of the possibility of danger. But, in m

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October Extras #31 - Halloween 5 (1989)

OCTOBER 30, 2007GENRE: SLASHERSOURCE: THEATRICAL (REVIVAL SCREENING)LAST SEEN: 2006 (?) (DVD)I think I just watched Halloween 5 again last year, when the new DVD came out. Or maybe I just watched the commentary. I dunno, who cares. Also, I'd like to point out that the "Revenge of Michael Myers" subtitle does not appear in the actual film, which I never noticed before. Way to start the review off interesting, huh?Like H20, 5 has great things, and terrible things, and it really depends on my mood which way I go with it. On one hand, it’s got some great and fairly unnerving sequences (Jamie

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Halloween Series, Holiday, October Extras, Slasher,

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October Extras #30 - Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988)

OCTOBER 30, 2007GENRE: SLASHERSOURCE: THEATRICAL (REVIVAL SCREENING)LAST SEEN: 2005 (?) (DVD)I remember it vividly... October 17, 1989. I was mad at my mom for renting Halloween 4 instead of The Great Outdoors. “I haven’t seen the first 3” I told her. She said it wouldn’t matter (now that I think about it – it’s kind of odd that a mother would make her kid watch an R rated horror movie instead of a PG comedy, but whatever), so I decided to give it a shot. On my way downstairs to watch it, I slipped and fell down the last 5 stairs, hitting my arm on the marble foyer (eerily – pretty much at

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Halloween Series, Holiday, October Extras, Slasher,

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Man In The Attic (1953)

OCTOBER 30, 2007GENRE: SERIAL KILLERSOURCE: DVD (BUDGET PACK!!!)Earlier this year, I saw Zodiac, and it remains one of the year’s best films (any genre). Like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac was never caught (at least, not AS the Zodiac; dude might have been picked up for cross-dressing or something), and the film’s strict following of the facts meant that the film sort of lacked a conclusion in the typical way (i.e. the bad guy getting caught). Yet for some reason, many of the Ripper films I have seen, including Man In The Attic, can’t be content with sticking to the facts, instead they're alw

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Chilling Classics, Serial Killer,

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P2 (2007)

OCTOBER 29, 2007GENRE: BLANK FROM HELL, SURVIVALSOURCE: THEATRICAL (PRESS SCREENING)In the early to mid 90s, there was a flood of “____ from Hell” movies. You take any regular profession (nanny, cop, temp) and assign it to a psychopath, and viola! Instant 40-50 million hit. They’ve since died out, but occasionally we get a movie like P2, which is essentially a “Parking Attendant from Hell” movie mixed with some light survival horror elements, courtesy of Alexandre Aja (who only produced and co-wrote this one, handing direction duties to Franck Khalfoun).Unfortunately, Aja’s name brings hig

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Blank From Hell, Survival,

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October Extras #29 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

OCTOBER 29, 2007GENRE: CANNIBAL, SURVIVALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)LAST SEEN: OCTOBER 2006 (DVD)Whenever someone talks about their experiences with horror movies as a young kid, I always point out how my mother, bless her, had no problem with me watching them, and even rented Texas Chain Saw Massacre for me when I was like 6 or 7. Now, of course, any Friday the 13th film is more violent, and the irony is that TCM is the type of film that works better on someone with a bit more intelligence and understanding of the way the world works than a 6 year old (I probably thought the movie was bori

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Cannibal, October Extras, Survival,

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October Extras #28 - Scream 2 (1997)

OCTOBER 28, 2007GENRE: SLASHERSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)LAST SEEN: 2004 (?) (DVD)The only time I ever dressed up for a movie was for Scream 2. And by dress up, I mean: “Wore my Ghostface mask in the lobby for a few minutes”. This was also the days when I didn’t care about spoilers... I had read the script beforehand and even asked someone on their way out if the killer in the script was the killer in the movie (note – it wasn’t). Needless to say, I was pretty excited for the film.I wasn’t let down too much, and over time I have grown to really like the sequel, almost as much as the origi

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Craven, October Extras, Slasher,

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Nightmare (1964)

OCTOBER 28, 2007GENRE: BRITISH, PSYCHOLOGICALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)Gee, another movie about folks pretending to be dead folks in order to freak someone out enough that they’ll do something so drastic that they’ll lose their inheritance/home/ job/collection of cookie jars. Exciting. Christ, even the title (Nightmare), is generic. Now, is it a bad movie? No. It’s actually kind of fun, especially in the last 20 minutes, when the villain begins going crazy herself and over pronounciates words at random. “She was HEYEYEYEYRE!” and “I’ll FIYIYIYIYIYIYIND you!” are some highlights. I wi

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British, Hammer, Psychological,

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October Extras #27 - Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)

OCTOBER 27, 2007GENRE: CULT, TECHNOLOGY, WEIRDSOURCE: THEATRICAL (!!!!)LAST SEEN: OCTOBER 2006 (DVD)I must credit the source of today’s October Extra to Ryan Rotten of ShockTillYouDrop.com, who informed me of a theatrical screening of my beloved Halloween III: Season Of The Witch right here in LA. I skipped multiple parties and had to listen to Game 3 of the World Series (which the Sox won, wooo) on the goddamn radio in order to attend this rare event, but I have no regrets at all. More than probably any other entry in the series, III deserves to be seen with a big crowd and on a big screen.

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Cult, Halloween Series, Holiday, October Extras, Technology, Weird,

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Saw IV (2007)

OCTOBER 27, 2007GENRE: SERIAL KILLER, SURVIVALSOURCE: THEATRICAL (REGULAR SCREENING)Christ, thank God I watched Saw III just a few hours before sitting down for Saw IV, or else I’d probably be pretty baffled as to what the hell I just watched. Despite a new set of writers, the film is probably the least accessible of the entire series, and I can’t imagine how someone who had never seen the last film would react to the finale (let alone someone who had never seen any of the others).See, despite their intertwined nature with the previous films, II and III were fairly stand alone in terms of ba

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Saw, Serial Killer, Survival,

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October Extras #26 - Saw III (2006)

OCTOBER 26, 2007GENRE: SERIAL KILLER, SURVIVALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)LAST SEEN: OCTOBER 2006 (THEATRICAL)At this point in the Saw franchise, I am beginning to have trouble choosing a favorite (or least favorite) among them. Like Saw II before it, Saw III is so entwined into the storyline of the previous film, it’s hard to single it out for any one characteristic (good or bad). Like the others, it has its pros and cons, but nothing so major that sticks out.As for the good: Bousman’s direction has improved (though the film is very dark at times, everything seems more fluid, and the blue

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October Extras, Saw, Serial Killer, Survival,

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Phantom From 10,000 Leagues

OCTOBER 26, 2007GENRE: MAD SCIENTIST, MONSTERSOURCE: DVD (BUDGET PACK 2!!!)Few titles are as grossly inaccurate as Phantom From 10,000 Leagues. There’s no phantom, only a very silly looking Black Lagoon wannabe, and he’s about 100 feet under the surface or so. Plus, the movie is barely about him anyway, as the monster has maybe 3 minutes of screentime in the entire film.No, instead, the filmmakers thought it would be much more interesting to watch a bunch of folks standing around talking about the ocean and science, and occasionally doing some scuba diving as they investigate a few murders.

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Horror Classics, Mad Scientist, Monster,

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October Extras #25 - Saw II (2005)

OCTOBER 25, 2007GENRE: SERIAL KILLER, SURVIVALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)LAST SEEN: FEBRUARY 2006 (DVD)One of my favorite stories to tell (at least, to fellow horror fans) is the time I went to some convention and met Leigh Whannell, Darren Bousman, and Shawnee Smith at a signing for Saw II. A guy in front of me had a copy of Armageddon for Shawnee to sign (she’s in it for like 17 seconds), and as she did, Whannell commented “That is the worst movie of all time.” Naturally, I immediately told him he was wrong. We debated Armageddon vs Commando for some reason, while they signed my poster.

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October Extras, Saw, Serial Killer, Survival,

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