The greatest zombie movie ever made, re-edited by Dario Argento for Italian audiences. It's a peppier cut, getting to the action faster. There are some additional shots and lines of dialogue that are cool (a grim conversation in the helicopter should've been kept in the real version). However, I didn't really like most of the changes.
The speed of this edit takes a lot away from what I like about this movie. The pride and boredom the characters feel after claiming their new home is diminished. There's barely any breathing room between Roger's death and the arrival of the motorcycle gang. The humor is mostly removed, too, with a few pies thrown and that's about it. The soundtrack is, not surprisingly, wall-to-wall Goblin music in this edit. Some of the extra Goblin music just isn't very good and it replaces the goofy and iconic mall music, which is very disappointing. I also feel like Frannie's character was gutted in this edit. Dario seems to only use her scene when necessary and is comfortable cutting her out as much as possible.
Regardless, ain't we lucky that this exists on DVD and we can watch it? Pre-Starz Anchor Bay was awesome. RIP.
Afterwards, we played some Cards Against Humanity. We weren't sure how the game would work with such a large group, but it turned out fine. We split into teams of two to cut down on the number of answer cards to read each round and the laughter started immediately. It's funny watching people's faces as they tried to choose which answer card to play: you could often see the "this is horrible, but I want to win" thought process dance across their visage. I love this game.
Week 2 begins! That calls for starting things out right, with a nutritious bowl of sugar-infused grains sweetened with marshmellows. Yum.
Monster Cereal Week 2: Frankenberry. I have always found his fingernails to be utterly disturbing. Also, his head looks like a butt.
Twas movie and game night again with pals Jack and Casey. We played more of zombie board game Last Night on Earth, this time choosing a couple of different scenarios to try. "Escape in the Truck" seemed to be the most popular one, which has the heroes searching for gasoline and keys in order to fuel up the truck and leave the zombie-infested town behind. It's fun stuff. I liked the co-op aspect and strategy while playing as a hero this time out.
John Amplas is going to be a guest at next month's Flint Horror Con, so of course we've got to watch this film; Jack more so than me, as he'll be hosting the Q&A panel with Amplas at the con. Not that re-watching Martin is any kind of hardship. It remains my second favorite vampire movie (Near Dark is still #1 to me) and is easily Romero's best non-zombie film. I don't know if I have much more to say on the film beyond what I wrote five years ago, but I did begin to wonder about Martin's family. It seems as though, probably for centuries, Martin's family line has been plagued by some sort of condition similar to autism, but also with a streak of violence in it. In the old country, long ago, whoever was born with this condition first was labeled a vampire by his superstitious family. Thereafter, anyone in the family exhibiting similar symptoms would be told over and over again as they grew up that they were suffering from a vampiric curse on the family. This family mythology is so strong, it even resists the modern, scientific age. While Martin continual states that there is no such thing as magic -- showing Cuda that the traditional defenses against vampires mean nothing to him -- he still irrationally believes himself to be a vampire who needs blood to survive. Which, I think, is a part of what Romero is trying to say. Tradition is a strong thing, and may control how you see yourself and the world even if you believe yourself to be an otherwise rational being.
Watched: DVD from Anchor Bay (which is in Romero's preferred 4:3 aspect ratio).
The roads are clear and the Internet still works. Minor things, but they set the wrong tone. A world in which, a month into a zombie outbreak, you can still watch YouTube on your iPhone just doesn't feel apocalyptic enough. Who's manning all of those server rooms to make this happen while the rest of the world goes to hell? If you're going to go that way -- things are still running, but there's all these annoying zombies making it a little harder than normal -- Romero should've ran with the idea I once read that he had for part 4: the living dead have become little more than a nuisance; just more homeless on the street for people to ignore.
Instead, for this sixth go-round, Romero goes back to the "let's civilize the zombies" idea again. This time, a man -- not unlike Hershel in The Walking Dead -- thinks the zombies are just sick people. He keeps them chained up on his island, where they repeatedly perform a minor task they used to do while alive. His goal is to train one to eat something other than humans in an effort to find a way to coexist with the creatures. Sounds familiar.
I'm not really sure I follow the logic of this train of thought, though. At the end of the movie, the zombies do indeed eat a horse. So what? I eat chickens, but that doesn't mean cows are safe around me. Saying this is a path to making the zombie safe to be around is like saying, "don't worry about the tiger walking around town. I've trained him to eat only cat food."
In the end, I don't think Romero really had anything new to say here. People are violent and will kill each other over stupid things like differences of opinions. Zombies can learn. You may have to turn into a little bit of a bastard to survive zombieland, but there are lines never to cross. We've tackled all of this stuff in previous Living Dead movies.
I do like the final image. If the visual of two zombies shooting empty guns at each other with a gigantic full moon behind them is the last of the Romeroverse, well, that'll be fine.
The Walking Dead 2.10: "18 Miles Out" (2012) directed by Ernest R. Dickerson
How much time is passing? How in the hell is Randall walking around OK after getting his calf muscle torn to shreds on a fence? And, where are they? Rick gives a nice speech about how winter may slow or end the zombie plague. Aren't they in Georgia, having just fled the CDC in Atlanta? Why is Rick talking about snowmobiles? I'm pretty sure they get rare dustings of snow there in winter and nothing more.
I'm also not sure why the show expects us to care much about whether Hershel's other daughter kills herself or not. I don't think the girl has ever had any lines before this episode and her catatonic state from the episodes prior has been the series' lamest storyline. I don't even remember what her name is.
At least Rick and Shane have come to blows, opening the way for Carl to do what he should'a done long ago.
The Walking Dead 2.11: "Judge, Jury, Executioner" (2012) directed by Gregory Nicotero
I love the group's moral quandary in this episode. It's a tough one. If Randall's group really has 30 people in it, I think the implication is that he's from the Governor's group. If that's the case, knowing what the Governor is like from the comics, I think Shane is right: they need to off him for the safety of the group. Easier said than done, though, as Rick finds out. Should they continue to pretend to be civilized? Or is that impossible in the world they now live in? Great, great stuff. This is exactly what this series can be at its best.
Is this the episode that started the complaints I've seen all over the damn Internet about Carl wandering off into the woods without supervision? There's only two more episodes left after this. I suppose if he does it again and gets lost like Sophia, that may be annoying. But, still, his wandering in this episode is completely understandable to me. He's a 10ish-year-old boy and, up to this point, the farm has been perfectly safe. I'd be curious to go explore and watch a zombie, too. I'm more worried that the idiot lost Daryl's gun in the woods.
Wow. Dale, man. He survived a long, long time in the comic series. I wasn't expecting him to be dying a horrifically agonizing death by being ripped open by a zombie and then shot in the head. Poor TV Dale never got to date Andrea or get his leg chopped off. If the series continues to shock me by mixing up the details of which bad things happens to which character, that's just fine. I just hope they have the balls to torture the members of the Grimes family as much as they've been tortured in the comics. Nothing in a comic book has ever gotten to me more than the three major things that happen to the members of that family over the course of the series.
A found footage film taking us back to the first night the dead got up and began eating people. This time, we're with a group of film majors who happen to be shooting a mummy movie in the woods when the SHtF. A couple of them decide to film everything that happens as they flee in a Winnebago.
Rather than exploring the learning zombie angle from Day and Land, Romero is chewing on much more interesting ideas in this one. How does the fact that there are cellphone video cameras in everyone's pocket, 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, and instant access to all of this affecting us? It's incredibly democratizing, says Romero. Giant media companies no longer have complete control over our perceptions of what happens the next town over, across the country, or on the other side of the planet. If we seek it out, we can discover the harsh, unedited truth floating around on the Internet (scary as that may sometimes be).
Also, how important is it to document a tragedy when there's a chance you could help avert it? People keep telling Jason to put the camera down and, at first blush, you would tend to agree with that demand. What's that idiot doing? Throw the camera down, pick up a weapon, and defend yourself and your friends! But, as Debra says a couple of times, "if it didn't happen on camera, it's like it didn't happen, right?" If there is no one to record these things as they happen, how are we going to know what really went on and how are we going to learn from these events? What if no had bothered to snap the famous photo from Kent State, the napalm girl in Vietnam, or Tiananmen Square? These are powerful, culture-shaking pictures. This is a question that truly plagues photographers. See this excellent article from The Guardian. As one of the interviewees says, "I thought, if I don't take this picture, no one will believe this ever happened."
Outside of this, taken just as a zombie movie, the film is merely OK. It lacks the action of Land, the awesome Savini gore of Day, and the likable characters of Dawn. I think the low budget is what hurt the film the most. But, I'm not going to complain. Romero can make as many zombie movies as he has in him and I'll watch them all.
The Walking Dead 2.08: "Nebraska" (2012) directed by Clark Johnson
This episode perfectly captures the tension often seen in the comics when the main characters encounter a new person or group. The conversation between Rick and the New Englanders in the bar is played perfectly, with the anxiety of Rick and the desperation of the other men slowly increasing until it all explodes in violence. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time Rick has to kill regular people. This is an important step in the development of his character. Hopefully, the show will continue to turn him into the man who will do absolutely anything necessary to protect his family.
The Walking Dead 2.09: "Triggerfinger" (2012) directed by Bill Gierhart
The shootout in the bar in the middle of this episode was incredible. The tension of the scene in which they try to rescue the guy impaled on the iron fence while walkers approach: completely awesome. Definitely one of the best bits in the entire show. I also love how Glenn, when tasked with running to grab the car, completely falls apart and hides after he is shot at. I can identify with that. That would be me. Much as I hate to admit it, I'm not going to be Rick in such a situation and coolly shoot back at the bad guys. Nope, I'm probably going to be Glenn and freak the hell out. But, I hate, hate, hate Glenn's after-the-fact explanation for why he wussed out. He says he didn't want to die because his death would hurt Maggie. C'mon, man. Great line to use on the lady, no doubt, but c'mon, man. Way to jettison a realistic reaction to stress for soap opera crap.
After twenty years, a movie studio finally gave George some money to make another zombie movie. I think the success of 2003's The Walking Dead and 2004's remake of Dawn of the Dead probably had a lot to do with it. Those two properties kicked off the zombie wave we're still surfing on today.
Even after all this time, Land feels like a logical progression in the series. Over the years, we see humanity get progressively organized in the face of the apocalypse: from chaos in a farmhouse, to a temporary home in a mall, to scientific research in an underground bunker, to a walled-off city. The men with guns tasked with controlling the chaos have gotten more organized as well. From Ben with his shotgun, to a pair of SWAT officers, to the asshole army guys underground, to the relatively well-functioning militia that protects Fiddler's Green. And, keying off of Day's Bub, Romero continues to explore the idea of zombies learning in Land.
The idea of zombies becoming smarter seems to be the idea Romero is most fascinated with in the film. Big Daddy is pretty much the Einstein of zombies, becoming aware that humans are enemies in addition to food. He's also sort of like one of those chimpanzees who figures out how to use a tool: he's able to teach the others in his species to do the same. Big Daddy raises an army, teaches them to ignore fireworks and use guns, and marches on to the big city to take care of the pesky humans who keep shooting his friends.
It begins to raise some interesting questions that never really get explored. Should we start regarding the zombies as another intelligent species? Maybe Dr. Logan from Day was right? If we civilize them or they civilize themselves, maybe we can coexist? Maybe we have to coexist? Genocide doesn't seem to be working. Even the well-organized Fiddler's Green society isn't attempting to comb the countryside and execute every zombie. There's just too many dead people out there for that (according the Logan's estimate in Day, hundreds of millions in the US alone). Unfortunately, the next Romero zombie movie doesn't pick up this thread.
There's not as much to the human side of the story, unfortunately. The story's message is pretty simple: the haves screw the have-nots in exactly the same way as they did before the apocalypse. I like Dennis Hopper as a villain, but he's pretty cartoony as the dictator of Fiddler's Green. His fall and that the down-trodden take over the city after his death is not particularly interesting.
More interesting is Riley's journey. Sick of humanity -- and who wouldn't be, seeing how they react in the face of the end of the world -- the man just wants to drive away live by himself. That he ends up with a truck full of people to take care of kind of says it all: like it or not, you can't do it all by yourself.
Tales from the Crypt 5.12: "Half-Way Horrible" (1993) directed by Gregory Widen Clancy Brown is awesome. He always plays a great villain. Here, he's the owner of a chemical company that discovers a super-preservative in a remote jungle. Nice guy that he is, he tests the stuff on a coworker and ends up killing him. Or is the guy really dead? The worst part of this episode for me was worrying about the actors. Several of them have to pretend to drink the blue glow stick fluid that stands in for the preservative. That can't be good, right? One of them looked like he really got it in his mouth. I'm goofy that way.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
I love this movie. Normally, I can't stand horror movies that use technology way beyond reality. I call it the Exorcist II problem. I have no issues suspending disbelief for ghosts, aliens, vampires, zombies or pieces of Stonehenge frying faces off. But, present the world of 1982 having perfectly human-looking androids, and you're in danger of losing me.
For some reason, though, this doesn't bother me at all in Season of the Witch. I think this is due to the atmosphere the film creates. There's something about the way the movie moves that sucks me in. Maybe it's Carpenter and Howarth's minimalist score? Maybe it's the pleasant-looking small town they shot in, filled with creepy androids watching the outsiders as they drive in to visit? Maybe it's the batshit plan Cochran has to simultaneously melt the faces of thousands of kids in history's largest sacrifice? I don't know. I just know that I unabashedly love Halloween III.
We made it through just 20 minutes of Spooky Buddies yesterday before my oldest freaked out and left the room. A Disney movie starring talking golden retriever puppies and featuring goofball Harland Williams as the bad guy was too much stress for the poor 4-year-old. So, I wasn't expecting to make it very far into this one today, either. Surprisingly, outside of some swearing I wish wasn't there, this one's pretty harmless and the girls got a kick out of it.
As an adult, I thought it was definitely a step above the aforementioned Buddies movie. The Looney Tunes-like ghosts were pretty funny and the cameos kept me entertained. I love Father Guido Sarducci -- what ever happened to him? -- popping up as an exorcist and Dan Aykroyd appearing for 5 seconds as Ray Stanz. Plus, Clint Eastwood, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Gibson and the Cryptkeeper showing up in a mirror when the ghostly uncles possess Bill Pullman was unexpectedly cool (and weird as hell). Not a bad kids' Halloween movie.
Watched: bootleg (if it were available to stream, I would've rented it. You lose, Universal).
Always my least favorite of the original dead trilogy. Partially, this is because of the setting. The underground shelter built into a mine, especially when compared to a mall, is pretty boring. It's not a place I can relate to. I've been in small farmhouses and malls; I can imagine the challenges of being barricaded in those. Underground facilities: not so much. The story doesn't have too much going for it, either. The film ends with the zombies taking over the facility, the asshole army guys eaten, and some of the good guy civilians escaping. You can more or less predict this all happening after the first time we meet the not-so-nice military guys underground. But: Bub, Dr. Logan and Tom Savini. Two fictional characters and a special effects guy make the movie entertaining for me.
When I think of "zombie," Bub is the face that comes to mind. Sherman Howard does a great job giving Bub personality and manages to make the undead killing machine sympathetic. Also, a lot of his movements look ape-like; I swear I've seen a nature special in which a gorilla plays with a phone in the same way that Bub does. I wonder if he was doing this on purpose? It's a great fit with the idea of trying to civilize / evolve the zombies.
Speaking of, you've gotta love nutty Dr. Logan and his wacky experiments. I don't think it's necessary to explain anything about how the zombies work in these films -- they aren't, or at least shouldn't be, the point of the story -- but I can't deny it's some fun stuff. You've got a zombie with everything in his head gone except for a still-living brain, a zombie with all of his internal organs disconnected who still wants to eat, a severed head that still blinks, and a zombie baby submerged in water. Also, though it's not remotely subtle, I like the fact that the only thing civilizing Bub really accomplished was to give him the ability to kill people with a gun instead of his teeth.
In Day, Savini is at the top of his game when it comes to the gore. Some of stuff at the end, in which the zombies are tearing the army guys to pieces, even had me wincing a little. Dr. Logan's experiments are beautifully accomplished. When the zombie sits up and all of his internal organs spill onto the floor... now that's horror poetry. Even the traditional zombie neck bites are done extremely well, with the zombies somehow looking like they've bitten a chunk out of the actor's neck.
A sometimes fun zombie movie, but not at all in the same class as Night or Dawn.
The Walking Dead 2.01: "What Lies Ahead" (2011) directed by Ernest R. Dickerson & Gwyneth Horder-Payton
Not having cable, I'm always going to be a year behind with this series as I catch it streaming on Netflix every October. That's fine with me; I'm in no rush. This first episode of season two picks up with the gang on the road after the disaster at the CDC in the final episode of season one. This is more of what I thought the later parts of season one might be like: traveling in the camper and running into trouble on the road. Quests to scientific facilities happened way too early.
Watching this right after Day of the Dead, I was bothered more than usual by the CGI gore in the show. I hate computer-generated blood and guts. It always looks like a cartoon and it's never animated right. I get that it's a huge time- and money-saver, but it still makes this part of the show look worse than a low-budget movie from 1985. On the other hand, I can't fault the zombie make-up jobs the crew is doing. The zombies look great and would not look out of place in a real zombie film. I particularly liked the horribly thin actor they cast as the zombie who terrorizes Andrea in the camper.
I don't think this episode needed to be extra-long -- it kind of dragged a bit -- and parts of the show are too soap opera-y for my taste, but I'm still curious to see where they take things next.
Watching this again after many years, I am reminded why this is my favorite zombie movie. What more is there to say on the zombie apocalypse that isn't covered in this film? Hell, even the first act accomplishes more than most other zombies movies. In that, we watch both a TV station broadcasting emergency information and a SWAT team's assault on a housing project. It's humanity at its best and worst amid the panic and confusion. There's the racist, bloodthirsty SWAT officer contrasted with Roger's calm compassion. There's the station manager's pursuit of ratings using outdated information versus Francine's steadfast refusal to endanger viewers. There's the useless bickering being broadcast that seems especially poignant right now, less than a month before the presidential election.
Beyond this, though, I think the most important idea Dawn of the Dead presents concerns the ability to quickly accept change. Throughout the film, only those characters who survive are those who are able to switch their mode of thinking in time. After his terrible experience in the housing project, Roger mentions to Peter that he's thinking of leaving. At the same time, Stephen insists that Francine leave the TV station with him in his helicopter even though she wishes to continue to work. Roger and Stephen both understand quicker than those around them and that there's no use in pretending civilization is OK at this point. It no longer makes sense -- it's downright silly -- to continue to do your job and take orders from a boss if there are dead people walking around.
This is no small thing. It would take a huge mental leap to accept that society has broken so badly that your normal life is no longer ever going to be possible. Many would simply not be able to do this and would stumble through the shambles of their old lives as best as they could... you might say in a zombie-like fashion. To strike out in a helicopter, unsure of where to go and what will happen to the world and leaving behind everything you ever knew, would be a hard and scary undertaking indeed.
And, even after making this giant change of thinking, there's no guarantee that you will be able to do so again if required. When the biker gang attacks the mall, Stephen finds himself unable to adapt to this new reality. After their months of hard work, he just cannot accept the loss of the mall. He should have known all along that the island of tranquility they'd created was never going to last forever, but he fell into the trap that its temporary comfort provided. So, he snaps and begins shooting at the biker gang, eventually ensuring his own death.
What this all means to me: despite the disaster policy I electronically agree to every year -- sorry -- I ain't showing up at work should I see a dead person waltzing down the street. That's a change I'm damn sure going to adapt to really fast given all of the horror movies I've seen.
The Munsters 2.10: "A Man for Marilyn" (1965) directed by Ezra Stone
Time for some more '60s TV with the daughters. Worried that Marilyn will never find a man who doesn't run away screaming the second she brings him home, Grandpa and Herman set about to create one for her in the lab. Best bit: the two cops who convince themselves the Munsters are actually frat boys with masks on doing an initiation.
The Munsters 2.11: "Herman's Driving Test" (1965) directed by Ezra Stone
Herman gets promoted at the parlor to hearse driver, only to discover his license expired 20 years ago. Hijinx, naturally, ensue as he tries to renew his license. Best bit: the look of horror on Herman and Grandpa's faces when the near-sighted small town clerk thinks they've come for a marriage license.
The Munsters 2.12: "Will Success Spoil Herman Munster?" (1965) directed by Ezra Stone
A recording of Herman singing of a cover of "Dem Bones" makes its way to a radio station and he becomes an instant hit. Rather cruelly, the rest of the family sabotages his shot at stardom out of the fear he'll turn into a giant a-hole if successful. Best bit: the dream sequence below in which Herman dresses like a leather daddy and boogies on stage with a pair of go-go girls. Holy cow.
The film that launched a thousand zombie tales. With our culture still in the middle of zombie-mania right now, it's sometimes hard to realize how influential this little movie was 44 years ago. Before Romero there were, of course, stories of the dead getting up and walking around. There were tales of monsters eating human flesh, like ghouls. There were even things called zombies, which were mostly associated with voodoo rituals in Haiti (as in 1932's White Zombie). However, this film was the first time all of this stuff got put together and given an apocalyptic spin.
The apocalypse, I think, is the key to the popularity of zombies. While there's a lot to be said about the zombie as a monster -- they are our disgust without our own bodies, or the fear of the unwashed masses, or humanity stripped down to its basest qualities -- the end of the world is really the star of the show in these films. This is one reason many consider, for example, 28 Days Later to be a zombie movie even though the infected are not and never were dead. It's not so much the monster as it is the destruction of society they cause.
In Night of the Living Dead, much time is spent watching the characters listen to the radio or watch TV. This is no mere time-filler. The TV and radio broadcasts are some of the scariest things in this film, even so for the characters in the house. They learn that not only are the dead walking around and eating people in the middle-of-nowhere, PA, but they're doing do so all over the eastern United States. Worse, no one in authority knows what the cause is and, other than setting up shelters in hospitals and schools, no one knows what the hell to do about it. That comforting lie that most of us live with -- the "people in charge are taking care of things, don't worry" -- is destroyed by these broadcasts.
What if, in the event of a major disaster, we're really on our own? What if no one know what's they're doing, even those running the entire country? These are fears in the backs of everyone's minds, I think. They are also very fun fears to ponder. How would I handle such a thing? What would I do first? How would I protect those I love? How would it all turn out?
I think it's clear how Romero sees such things shaking out. In the end, authority fractures in to much smaller pieces controlled by violent men. Ben with his rifle inside the farmhouse exerts control on that space. Though ostensibly the hero of the show, he does end up shooting Cooper -- while an asshole, he was not posing a threat at the time -- in cold blood. Similarly, outside of the house, the roving band of hunters exert their violent control of the countryside. They have so much power, they appear to be shooting anything on two legs that they come across without bothering to check to see if they are human or zombie. Zombies or armed men drunk on power: I think George is staying we're screwed either way.
Sis and her husband, BiL7, came up from Texas for the weekend. They were informed that in this house, at this time of year, by god Six Weeks of Halloween participation is mandatory. Not that they weren't agreeable. Joining us: my mother. Yep, mom. Watching horror movies with mom. That also meant homemade vegetarian lasagna replaced the traditional pizza and bacon cheddar fries, which my arteries are likely thankful for. After reading off a few dozen horror titles from my collection, we finally picked one to start.
Martin (1976) directed by George A. Romero
My second favorite vampire flick after Near Dark. One thing I noticed this time around was the role of religion in the film. "There's no real magic," Martin declares repeatedly, demonstrating this by eating the garlic his cousin Cuda has hung in the house and touching a crucifix to his cheek. Cousin Cuda holds the diametrically opposite belief; he's a traditional Catholic and staunch believer in real vampires. When Cuda asks the new, young priest -- played by Romero himself -- to perform an exorcism on Martin, the priests laughs the idea off and Cuda is forced to recruit an old priest for the task. Young versus old, traditionalist versus modernist and believers versus non-believers are themes that run throughout the background of the film.
I don't think Romero is a believer himself ("For me, tribalism and religion are basically the big reasons we’re in trouble. Patriotism, tribalism, and religion.") and I don't think there's any real magic in the world of the film. This makes the ending of the film particularly interesting. In the end, the evil is stopped by the old, traditionalist, believer when Cuda kills Martin by pounding a stake through his heart. Though he did this in the mistaken belief that Martin was a vampire, he was also the only person on the planet to believe, correctly, that Martin was a monster. So too, I think, Romero may be saying: though the religious do good works in the mistaken belief it will bring favor with their deity, that doesn't make it any less of a positive thing. (9/10)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002) directed by Mark Pellington
For my money, the Mothman is what a "real" monster would be like. It's not human, so its motivations are utterly incomprehensible. To encounter it is to flirt with insanity. You can't stop it with holy water or silver bullets; it's probably not even corporeal. You can barely describe it after seeing it. Utter powerlessness in the face of something you can't hope to understand is truly scary.
This was fun to watch a second time. I had my eye out for both the flash frames of the Mothman that appear periodically and for shots with pairs of red lights (recalling the Mothman's eyes) in them. I wasn't disappointed. Red lights abound and the flashes we get of the Mothman are creepy. I think Pellington's music video background helped him here. He's used to dealing with quick, surreal imagery. (8/10)
Masters of Horror: "Dance of the Dead" (2005) directed by Tobe Hooper
A post-apocalypse. A wild ride into the night. Zombies. And Bobby Englund hamming it up. I love this episode. (9/10)
The Halloween Jones Soda flavor of the week was Buried Pomegranate, a new flavor introduced this year. I've never eaten a real pomegranate before, so I don't really know if the liquid in this can was an abomination upon nature, or an eerie reproduction. It was perfectly drinkable, though. Not a bad change from your regular cherry/lemon/orange fruit-flavored pops, I suppose. Kinda tastes like, maybe, plum soda or peach soda or something like that. Still, I'm not going to cry if it gets replaced next year.
I was bit surprised: I though the Mothman would freak my sister out the most, but she found Martin more disturbing. I guess any monster -- no matter how bizarre -- can't really compete against "that quiet kid is secretly an insane serial killer" for things to fear in real life. Mom was also not a fan of Martin. It's not really her usual type of movie, fair enough (she thought it was "bloody"). I think picking a follow-up movie starring the (dreamy and her same age) Richard Gere probably made up for that. BiL7, I could tell from the loud laughter, enjoyed The Simpsons clips. I triple-dipped on those this week because I knew he's a big fan of the show. As you can see, I went for the cream of the crop, there, choosing the best shorts for the best three episodes (IMHO, anyway, and saving "The Raven" for October 31st).
Five hours of melting and five people drinking later...
Tales from the Crypt: "Abra Cadaver" (1991)
The interior monologue was a little hard to take seriously. (7/10)
d. Stephen Hopkins
Tales from the Crypt: "Top Billing" (1991)
John Astin ensures this is a lot of fun. (7/10)
d. Todd Holland
Zombie: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Same zombie goodness in a slightly different edit, though I'm not a fan of the new music. (8/10)
d. George A. Romero
[watched whilst wearing a DotD T-shirt, dork that I am.]
.
(which is in Romero's preferred 4:3 aspect ratio).
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
