Six Weeks of Halloween: 2003

Six Weeks of Halloween
2003

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Six Weekends of Movies: September 26th October 3rd October 10th October 17th October 24th October 31st

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What's This All About?

I love Halloween. A lot. But, as only one night of the year, it's over rather quickly. To solve this problem, I'm going to make this holiday six times longer than normal: I'm going to celebrate six weeks of Halloween.

On one night -- Friday, Saturday or maybe Sunday night -- for each of these weekends, I'm going to watch two or three or four movies from one of the chosen themes (see below). More than likely, I will also drink beer and eat candy as this happens.

So what? Well, other folks are more than welcome to come to any or all of these six movie marathon days. You can also partake in beer and candy... just like me! Should other people want to come, the theme of the weekend can be voted on, as well as which of the movies from that theme we'll watch. My recommended choices are the ones with pictures (see below).

Special Exception: On Halloween night itself, my only definite plan is to watch John Carpenter's Halloween, as I do every year on that night.

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Themes

The Horror Films of Michael Moriarty

• Q: The Winged Serpent
• The Stuff
• Troll

Michael Moriarty is a great character actor, and -- on most accounts -- a crazy mother in real life. These first two movies are by NYC indie god Larry Cohen. The last... well, it's supposed to be something.


Italian Horror

• Suspiria
• The Beyond
• The House by the Cemetery
• Manhattan Baby
• The New York Ripper
• The Stendhal Syndrome
• Zombi 2

This is a mix of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci movies: Italy's two most famous horror maestros. Suspiria has been called the Citizen Kane of horror, though Wells's movie never had a rock video by Goblin to go with it.


Asian Horror

• The Eye
• Evil Dead Trap
• Ringu
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man
• Vampire Hunter D
• Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

The Eye comes to us from Hong Kong and is one of the recent "this is fucking scary" films from Asia to make it big here. Evil Dead Trap is an example of Japanese "New Wave" horror. What I wrote about The Eye also probably applies to Ringu, the original version of the film that was remade here.


Watched: Week 1 - The Horror Films of Christopher Walken

• The Dead Zone
• Communion
• The Prophecy
• Sleepy Hollow

Better than the USA TV series is 1983's Dead Zone, the quintessential Walken film. Communion is a surreal alien movie based on nut-case Whitely Strieber's fascinating book. In The Prophecy, Chris is a badass angel. Nuff said.


Serial Killer

• The Hitcher
• Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
• M
• Alice, Sweet Alice
• American Psycho
• Basic Instinct
• Maniac
• Psycho
• Se7en
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Unspeakable

Rutger Hauer is a psycho in The Hitcher. Nuff said, again. Henry is the best serial killer movie ever made. Period. M is the first serial killer movie ever made, from Germany.


Watched: Week 4 - The Horror Films of Stuart Gordon

• The Pit & the Pendulum
• Castle Freak
• Dagon
• Re-Animator

Stuart Gordon has the ability to make great movies out of Full Moon budgets. Castle Freak and Re-Animator also feature cult actor Jeffrey Combs.


The Films of David Cronenberg

• Scanners
• Videodrome
• Spider
• Crash
• Dead Ringers
• The Dead Zone
• eXistenZ
• The Fly
• Rabid
• Shivers

Cronenberg is a fucking genius.

In Space!

• Hellraiser: Bloodline
• Leprechaun 4: In Space
• Jason X

The weirdest trend in modern horror is to put an aging slasher franchise in outer space. But, damn, does it make some funny movies.


Watched: Week 5 - Vampires

• Martin
• Sleepwalkers
• Dracula (1931, Spanish)
• Blade
• Blade II
• Dracula (1931)
• Dracula vs. Frankenstein
• From Dusk Till Dawn
• Interview with the Vampire
• The Lost Boys
• Nosferatu (Type-O-)
• Shadow of the Vampire
• Vampires
• Vampyros Lesbos

The Spanish version of 1931's Dracula is supposed to be superior to the Browning/Legosi version. It was filmed at night, using the same sets as its more famous brother film, but with different actors and a different director.


Watched: Week 2 - Comedic Horror

• Killer Klowns from Outer Space
• Army of Darkness
• Ghostbusters
• Creepshow
• Creepshow 2
• Evil Dead 2

In Killer Klowns, a shadow puppet kills someone. Yep.


The Films of Clive Barker

• Hellraiser
• Nightbreed
• Lord of Illusions

Despite greater-than-normal studio meddling, Clive manages to produce some frickin' cool movies.


Under-Appreciated Slashers

• A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
• Slumber Party Massacre II
• The Dentist
• Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
• Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

A slasher flick is, I think, a horror movie in its purest form. Sadly, even amongst fans of this sub-genre, some gems are ignored or out-right hated for little reason. But, the unexpected homoeroticism of Elm Street 2, the uber-goofy rocker/killer/drill-owner of Slumber Party II and the tightly crafted, yet direct-to-video goodness of The Dentist deserve to be appreciated more than they currently are.


Watched: Week 3 - The Films of John Carpenter

• Prince of Darkness
• The Fog
• They Live
• The Thing
• Christine
• In the Mouth of Madness
• Vampires

I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum.


Watched: Week 6 - My Choice

• White Zombie
• The Beyond
• Ringu
• Jason X
• Halloween

My choice for the night.

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Pre-Movie Toons

• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
  
  • "Lonesome Ghosts"
  • "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
• Beavis and Butt-Head
  
  • "Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest"
• Inhumanoids
  
  • "Cypheroid"
  • "The Surma Plan"
  • "Cult of Darkness"
  • "Negative Polarity"

• The Simpsons
  
  • "Treehouse of Horror"
  • "Treehouse of Horror II"
• South Park
  
  • "Pinkeye"
  • "Spookyfish"
• SpongeBob SquarePants
  
  • "Scaredy Pants"
  • "Graveyard Shift"
  • "Shanghaied"