Tag Archives: halloween

Oct13

Carpe Sceam Day 12

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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

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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.

Oct11

Carpe Scream Day 10

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Today, I watch a classic Corman Film, Edgar Allen Poe’s the Haunted Palace.

The Haunted Palace, 1963 American International Pictures

Well one thing this movie does NOT have is anything by Edgar Allen Poe save one poem at the end. This movie is almost 100% H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” In interviews,Corman stated that he was very much a Lovecraft fan, but no studio wanted to produce a story a story by this “unheard of schlock writer.” That’s when it was decided to rename this picture, “The Haunted Palace,” and claim it was based on a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, seeding the “castle” angle throughout the movie. After all, Corman had already made several well-received Poe pictures with Vincent Price, so why not?

Pictured: Zero Ravens.

That being said, this is actually one of the strongest movie’s Corman’s ever directed. The pacing is better than your usual Corman, the story is well presented and visually interesting. Price’s performance is, as always, very entertaining, and the final sequence is satisfying and nicely grim.

GO PATS!

This is a jewel of classic B-Movies, and definitely worth a watch.

Oct9

Carpe Scream Day 8

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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

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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.

Oct6

Carpe Scream Day 6

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So, today I saw the 3rd installment of the Omen franchise, The Omen III, (The Final Conflict)

The Omen III The Final Conflict, 20th Century Fox

This movie was a rather dissappointing finale to the storyline. There’s just a whole lot of nothing happening in it and it’s chock full of thrilling poorly-lit action sequences.

the omen 3

Pictured: Actual action-packed action (probably).

Seriously, when you compare this to the almost cartoony deaths of Omen II, these deaths are almost like in Disney movies when we have the bad guy fall off a cliff into shadow.

When things do start to happen (at around the Half-hour mark) it gets good. Sam Neil has some great performances and things start moving, we’re introduced to the second Christ, and then…. a baby-killing sequence. Fun. Stuff. I get that it’s supposed to set the tone and be a parallel to the infant genocide of King Herod, but it’s a gruesome sequence and uncomfortably long.

It’s also the 3rd movie where we’ve seen absolutely no conflict of powers between God and Satan. Whenever Satan attacks something holy, it’s a one-sided struggle (and I use the word struggle lightly). It’s the 3rd movie, and we’ve still seen no real conflict, not even an internal one, which they hinted at in the second movie.

When Damien is a little boy, he’s weaker, vulnerable, and there’s a sense of danger and uncertainty. Now that Damein is a big strapping grown-up, it’s pretty boring.

Please, Lord, help to ease Monica’s pain and let her not have to watch this movie again, Thy will be done.

I was hoping for an ultimate showdown at the end, but end came as a quick “bam”, some cheesy lights, and the Mormon Tabernacle choir. UGGH. There was so much more they could have done with this if they’d led with characters and not with events.

Final note on the Franchise: Watch movies one and two, and then read Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. 

Oct5

Carpe Scream Day 5

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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

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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.

Oct1

Carpe Scream Day 1

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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.

Sep29

Get ready….

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Okay, here we go again! Leaves are fluttering in the air, a cold damp wind is shaking the windows, and I’m coughing up green junk, it must be time for…

89125e0f409ae0f2-weblogo

Yesiree, Bob. There will be 31 days of 31 drawings, some quick sketches, some detailed works, others assignments masquerading as frivolity. In this I hope to hone my skills as an inker and maybe stop hating inking as a chore in general. For FULL information on inktober, please click the graphic which will take you to mrjakeparker.com and the originator of the Inktober initiative.

In addition to Inktober, and as a way to school myself in the genre, I will ALSO be attempting my own challenge:

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The rules are as follows

  • For every day in October, watch one horror movie.
  • Post about it on your blog or on my comments.
  • Tag it as #carpescream2015

And I leave the interpretation of “horror” to you all entirely. It can be a pyschological thriller, or a comedy or family feature. It can even be from a TV series, as long as it has a halloweeny feel to it. I did this last year and I had so much fun watching the movies (that I’d otherwise be too squeamish to watch) and picking up a better appreciation for the industry and the art of horror.

So get your playlists ready, and your pens uncapped.

October is going to be a wicked fun month!

~Monica Marier