Tag Archives: Carpe Scream

Oct15

Carpe Scream Day 14

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Wednesdays are family movie nights, so this Wednesday, I bring you another family-friendly monster movie: “Wallace & Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”

Wallace & Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, 2005 Dreamworks

This is a fabulous send-up of your usual monster movie. Man wants to benefit mankind through science, something goes horribly wrong, man is now cursed to transform into being that stalks and destroys the people he was trying to save. Though in this case it’s vegetables. The movie is set in a sleepy Yorkshire village where everyone is trying to win the prize vegetable competition.

The send-ups and parallels of other famous monster movies like The Wolf Man, King Kong, and Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde are brilliant and well worked in. Gripping dramatic camera shots, haunting music and brilliant animated expression add horror and gravitas to a very silly story.

My favorite is when Gromit comes across a mass of half-eaten vegetables and the camera gives you a graphic shot of pulp and seed and juices, while the orchestra goes nuts, and Gromit reels against the door, overcome by the senseless destruction. You can almost just imagine that a half-eaten squash is as horrifying to him as a bloodied broken corpse. It’s really well done and a great movie to share with the family.

Oct13

Carpe Sceam Day 12

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Tonight I took a look at The Blair Witch Project.

The Blair Witch Project, 1999 Artisan Entertainment

I remember this coming out when I was in High School. The hype behind it was as subtle as this:

Movie studios don’t lie, do they?

The movie studios plugged this as hard as they could as a genuine documentary filmed by three dead people. They even went as far as to pay IMDB to list their credits as (missing: presumed dead).

And I think almost every high school student in the United States fell for it. I mean, with camera footage this crappy, with really bad sound and editing and obviously no real dialogue, what else could it be? A REAL studio wouldn’t release this motion-sickness inducing home video, right??  And really that’s why it was deemed to be one of the scariest horror movie of all time.

But the minute you realize that this was all a “plausible” hoax filmed in a public park with 2 handheld cameras (they had to stop filming every time families on their bikes road by), it really takes the wind out of the Blair Witch’s sail. Every vomit-inducing quick pan. Every sound blip, every time they TALK ABOUT THE F*** MAP…

(NSFW Language)

it just makes me really kind of angry at the studio for being the unholy mother chosen by Satan to give birth to all the found footage movies that are saturating the horror-movie genre right now: rollercoaster rides full of clunky dialogue and NOTHING HAPPENING.

Paranormal Activity 6: The Ghost Dimensions? Yeah. THANKS Blair Witch.

Go stand in the corner!!

Oct12

Carpe Scream Day 11

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Today, I watched a classic Monster B-Movie, that wins the best movie song award: The Blob (1958)

Super Groovy.

This one features Steeve McQueen as a “young teen” that rallies a town to defend itself from an interstellar parasite that devours and absorbs flesh.

17 going on 28.

As far as movies go, this one certainly has a more sophisticated, compellingly written and well shot production quality, and is just plain entertaining. I love the cast, the varied characters, the real struggle of the teens fighting for their town and the people who eventually help champion them. My only complaint is that the pacing can get a bit slow in places.

It’s also not afraid to laugh at itself, which any horror movie should be if it can help it.

I think there’s some requirement that all 50’s SciFi movies contain a character named “Steve.”

I remember seeing this one when I was younger, and finding the blob pretty terrifying. I mean, it “dissolves” you. How horrible is that?

It also makes a great marinade.

As a parting gift I leave you with The Blob drinking game:

Every time someone says “Steve,” take a drink. Don’t die.

Oct9

Carpe Scream Day 8

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Day 8 is here, and I’m dipping back into the retro vault for some old-fashioned B-movies like…

House on Haunted Hill, 1959 Castle Films

This movie centers around a party at a haunted house where the guests must stay the night to win a big cash prize. It features the crown prince of terror, Vincent Price, and some ladies who are very good at screaming. It lives up to the Castle tradition of containing about 14 minutes of plot in it’s 75 minute run-time. But despite the cheesy special effects and some really LOOONG pauses, it’s great fun to watch, especially if you watch one of the many available commentary tracks for this. My favorite is via RiffTrax. And if you think old films are too sacred to poke fun at, I submit this side-splittingly terrible moment.

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” I love my new roller skates!

And there are actually some very good thrilling scenes in it, like with the phantom rope. Eating fine brie every day is a bore. Some days I just want the guilty pleasure of some creamy salty American Kraft singles in my movies.

Oct8

Carpe Scream Day 7

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Today I watched Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 Warner Bros. Pictures

I remember the excitement over this movie coming out in 2005. I think we were all waiting for another enchanting Nightmare Before Christmas with a Victorian grimdark flair. Unfortunately when you set the bar at the top, anything less is just…well lesser.

The movie starts out promisingly, with a strong cast, interesting premise that’s rife with old world mystery and charm and Burton’s famous stark colour palettes of greys and blues. And then somewhere around the middle the story just starts to slow down. Our zany underworld characters are more twee than charming and seem a bit forced in for comic relief, like Cinderella’s mice.

Peter Lorre is SO big with the kids these days.

The Peter Lorre impersonating maggot is to blame for most of it. The kids didn’t get the reference and he didn’t earn more from the adults than a tired eye-roll. The songs start out strong, but sort of peter out as Elfman rather phones in the later numbers.

That being said, it’s still a fun movie. I love watching it with my kids and thrilling to the creepy Emily, laughing at the goofy ghosts. They even get all swoony over Victor and Victoria, which is remarkable in a kids’ film and they got so excited when Christopher Lee (God rest him) showed up.

Now it’s a party, bitches.

When all’s said and done the worst thing that could be said about Corpse Bride is that it’s not Nightmare Before Christmas, and that ain’t bad.

Oct5

Carpe Scream Day 5

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Today, I watched one of my Halloween Favorites: Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow, 1999 Paramount Pictures

Let me just start out by saying, that this movie is pretty much what I wanted Sweeny Todd to be. It’s just so much over-the-top, gory, grimdark fun! It’s got its weak points like the zero-chemistry between Depp and Ricci, the terrible writing for Katrina’s character, and oodles of anachronisms (yes, I know, it’s just silly fun!). But the stark palette of black, white, and red is visually gripping. Elfman’s terrifying score gives me fever chills every time I listen to it. It also features a large talented cast of “Hey,I know that guy!” fame.

Pictured: Alfred, Principal Rooney, Chancellor Palpatine, Uncle Vernon, and Dumbledore

All and all, the wonderful cast and story, are all whimsically dark and entertaining. I harbor a secret wish that Burton returns to some of this witty, nutsy, style of movie soon. Hell, he can even stick Depp and Bonham-Carter in it. What the hell.

Fun Fact: Johnny Depp himself stated that Ichabod Crane was an easy character to get a hold of, once he imagined himself playing a 16-year-old girl.

Escort Miss Depp to the fainting couch.

DOUBLE FEATURE

These days, I ALWAYS follow up this movie with the Disney Short of the same story.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 1949 Walt Disney Pictures

This one is much more faithful to the original story, in fact the narration is taken almost entirely from it. And it’s narrated by the king of the velvet voice, Bing Crosby. Disney perfectly captivated this wonderfully humorous story of two ruthless gold-diggers out to nab the richest, hottest peach in town.

She’s got huuuuuuuuge tracts of land!

My favorite part is the Halloween Dance and the musical number Bing performs. This cartoon used to scare the hell out of me as a kid, but damn if I didn’t love every bit of it.

This is definitely one of my favorite stories and an American Treasure.

Oct3

Carpe Scream Day 3

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

Well, I’ve seen the Omen several times, so I decided to finally watch the sequel…

Damien Omen II, 20th Century Fox

I have to say, this one is slightly less of a thrill ride. The pacing is pretty slow, and the movie relies more on stunning color pallets and gorgeous location shots than it does on plot.

Apart from that, I like that we got to know Damien’s character as he’s starting to grow up and discovering his dark powers. Johnathin Scott-Taylor’s performance as the 12-year-old antichrist is really captivating and heartbreakingly sympathetic at times. I also love that we get to see another huge classic actor like William Holden take the reins as the next father figure/martyr. Plotwise, I had to laugh because it’s almost like a very dark version of Harry Potter.

“Yer a Wizard, Harry.”

The only thing I didn’t like was that we spent so much time with “Uncle Rich’s” work and a lot of side plot-lines that seemed disconnected and didn’t really seem to go anywhere except to provide us with a body-count. The deaths themselves were also faster, bigger, splashier, and in the end more cartoony than interesting, because they had to top Patrick Troughton’s skewering and David Warner’s decapitation. I laughed at every cheesey death, where with the first Omen movie, I gasped. They could have trimmed all that and added more scenes of Damien bumping off classmates and teachers while discovering himself as a man to make it better. Like discovering girls…

“…and then I set her on fire!” Hahahahaha!

I’ll probably go ahead and watch the Omen III and IV to see how I like the over-arching story, but maybe I’ll do it later.

Oct2

Carpe Scream Day 2

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

In keeping with our inadvertent theme of happy family life, Day 2’s feature was The Omen.

The Omen 1976, 20th Century Fox

First of all, I’ll just state for the record that I ADORE Gregory Peck and David Warner. I’d watch them in damn near everything. Secondly this is just a solidly good movie. I have no idea why they remade it (especially since, from what I can tell, it was shot-for-shot and line-for-line identical). I love soundtrack, the characters (especially David Warner) and the plot from beginning to end. (And the Doctor mark 2 Patrick Troughton as a brilliantly creepy fallen priest seeking redemption.) Oh, and David Warner, did I mention him?

Dat hair.

And Once again, this movie makes some great parallels between the true nature of fear and the strange quirks of ordinary children that drive parents to madness. Also, as a Catholic, I adore a great good vs. evil plotline with all the clout of biblical angelic battles for dominance, unless those stories run for 4 freaking seasons *cough* supernatural *cough*

I highly recommend this one for a good horror that’s more thriller than a gore fest, that has a strangely classical feel to it and a fantastic tragic hero.

And they get an honorable mention for having a tricycle scene that’s almost as scary as The Shining.

A for effort, Damien, but Danny Torrence did it better.

Oct1

Carpe Scream Day 1

Posted on by
Standard

Sign

DAY 1 of my Halloween Horror Movie Challenge, and I begin with my absolutely favorite movie:

Rosmary’s Baby 1968, copyright Paramount Pictures

This movie’s been a favorite of a while, for how brilliantly it captures the constant pain, worry, and terror of being pregnant and twists it in an interesting new way. I first watched it when I was pregnant with my first child, so it was extra poignant at the time. Pregnancy is, without a doubt, one of the scariest things women have to go through, and it really does feel like your own body is betraying you while being host to a strange entity, despite all your love and hopes.
Now throw into that psychological mix, two of the greatest villains: The Castavets. I love that the mundane meets the sinister in the fantastic characters of a pokey old busybody and her lovable bear of a husband.

The Face of Evil

It makes Rosemary’s Baby, one of my favorite horror movies (Polanski aside) of all time, and it’s the movie I’ll ALWAYS start any horror marathon with.