09 October 2010

October 9th

M&M stopped by for their first Six Weeks since 2004, far as I can tell, and a good time was had by all.  Perhaps this was due to the accidental Bill Paxton movie night we had?  You really can't go wrong with The Pax.  Also, every right-thinking horror fan must see The Horrible Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon.  Funniest horror short I've ever seen and it had the room cracking up loudly for nearly its entire 10 minutes.

Krackoon (2010) trailer
They Bite (1996) trailer
The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror III: Dial 'Z' for Zombies" (1992)



Tales from the Crypt: "Two for the Show" (1993) directed by Kevin Hooks
Infidelity and spousal murder seem to come up a lot in TftC.  This one was a bit different, due to the twist at the end.  Typically, you expect the murdering husband or wife to be punished in some way at the end.  Which does happen in this episode as well, but for only one of the guilty parties.  Fairly clever plotting, I thought.


Office Space (1997) fake trailer
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976) trailer
Aesop's Fables: "The Haunted Ship" (1930)


Frailty (2001) directed by Bill Paxton
For some reason, I didn't care for this movie so much when I watched it originally.  I think I was put off by the ending.  I guess I wanted Adam and his dad to be insane.  It's scarier that way.  It's very easy to imagine this type of religious insanity in real life.  Thinking that the guy standing behind you at the grocery store might be imaging you're a demon that God wants him to kill is disturbing but not at all outside of the realm of possibilities.

After watching the movie a couple more times, I've come to like the idea that Adam and his dad really were doing God's work.  It works well as a twist ending; I was not at all expecting the movie to take a supernatural turn.  After spending the entire film with Fenton, imaging ourselves in his position, it's interesting to turn that around on the audience and make him into a demon. (8/10)




The Sinful Dwarf (1973) TV spot
House (1977) trailer
The Horrible Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon (2008)



Near Dark (1987) directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Still my favorite vampire film of all time, though I will freely admit this may be partially due to my personality quirks rather than its cinematic quality.  There's something about the mix of Tangerine Dreams' music, Bigelow's beautiful night photography, the mysteriousness of Mae, the wildness of Jesse and Severen, the pathos of poor Homer, the morality of Caleb -- it just plugs right into my brain. I don't really have much more to say about the film outside of what I wrote about it for previous Halloweens. (9/10)



That's one happy bat.

2 comments:

  1. Did you see the newest DVD release of "Near Dark" that intentionally rips off "Twilight" with the soft-focus fog and gives Caleb the pale skin and amber eyes, with Mae resting at his neck all submissive and Bella-naive and shit?

    I thought it was pretty ridiculous until I thought about some Twihard sitting down to watch "Near Dark" and imaging the head-explosion that would follow. It makes me wonder if the new DVD cover wasn't some clever attempt at a reality check. "Here, kids, this is what a real vampire movie is all about!"

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  2. I had the same thoughts on the new cover as you. Good. I really hope it tricks some people into watching the movie.

    But, I wouldn't give Lionsgate too much credit there... this same Blu-ray also features the only completely unskippable, un-fast-forwardable trailer I've seen on a BD. Pisses me off every time I pop the disc in. I believe I sent an email full of swears to their customer service dept after I first bought it. Grr.

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