tinfoil, whiskey, and computers

10/15/2006 - 1730

After watching the previous crap I had to adjust my brain and get back in line with a decent movie. I chose the classic A Nightmare on Elm St. Freddy makes his debut as a boogeyman who haunts teenagers’ dreams. Freddy is the first boogeyman character I can think of in a movie and probably first on most people’s minds.

It’s one of Wes Craven’s early works and is THE movie that allowed New Line to become the hugely successful company they are today. It was low budget but you’d never know. Everyone on the film seemed to dedicate themselves to a movie they knew could be great and it shows.

Horror wasn’t mainstream in 1984. It was still smaller studios, smaller budgets, and slasher flicks. It had an audience, but it was more niche. Nightmare changed that. It’s a great movie that will make you think twice when you crawl into bed if it’s the first time you’ve seen it. If you’ve seen it before it’s always fun to see the original Freddy before the sequels.

Share This

10/15/2006 - 1615

Holy crap this movie sucks. Crippled Creek is supposed to be about…something…but I have no idea what because I turned it off after 30 minutes. Actually I know what it’s about. Three chicks go camping for the weekend, something bad is in the woods, two die, one lives. Meh, normal, simple plot.

What sucked so incredibly hard was, well, everything. I thought I was watching a porno with the quality of the acting…except I didn’t get the benefits of porn. The directing was like a twelve year old, bored on the weekend with the family video camera. The “film” quality matched. It was some horrible digital technology, not even HD.

If it gets better after 30 minutes I’ll never know because I can’t sit through this crap.

Share This

10/15/2006 - 1100

Scream is a movie I could watch over and over again (and I do, quite often). It’s difficult to name your favorite movie when people ask. It’s hard to name “the best” of something. But to me, without a doubt, Scream is my favorite horror movie and the best horror movie. It brings together the master Wes Craven and newcomer, at the time, Kevin Williamson. The script was so good there was a bidding war in Hollywood…for a horror flick!

The writing is absolutely outstanding. The directing is tight. The picture looks great. This movie bridged the gap between typical lower budget horror and high budget Hollywood filmmaking. And it did so without selling out. It’s as good a horror/slasher as they make. It’s also a great teen movie (I have a guilty pleasure of teeny horror flicks that were made from 1996 through the present).

The pop references really make this a great movie, references to horror movies, modern culture, and typical teenagers. The opening is one of the absolute best opening sequences, comparable to Psycho not only for the similarities but for the quality and impact. Every little detail is well thought out and purposeful, there is no fluff, no filler.

If you haven’t seen it, what rock do you live under? If you have, watch it again and again. My goal in life is to someday write a screenplay as awesome as Scream. Without hesitation I give this 5 stars.

Share This

10/15/2006 - 0800

Technically creature flicks can be classified as horror, especially if they are big bug movies like Eight Legged Freaks. I really like this movie, it’s a great homage to all the cheeseball big bug movies that preceeded it. The acting is very good, there’s a young Scarlett Johansson (big boobs and all), the story is well done, and the effects are good.

This movie is a lot of fun, a little creepy if you don’t like spiders. Definitely I would recommend it.

Share This

10/14/2006 - 1300

I have a thing for zombies. I don’t know why. Dead Men Walking is a flick about a prison overrun by a zombie virus outbreak. I suppose, like 28 Days Later, some purists may not consider it a zombie movie as it’s not re-animated corpses but a virus that turns them into zombie-like creatures.

The confining aspect of a prison is an interesting take on a zombie movie. You can’t leave and there are a ton of people. The zombies were pretty decent zombies as well. The makeup was very good. The acting, as expected, fairly mediocre. One prision guard was fairly funny (as intended) playing the tough guy.

There is lots of gore, lots of shooting, lots of biting. I enjoy zombie flicks, but let’s be honest, most of them suck. Even the good ones are only ok. I’d put this in the ok category. It doesn’t go above and beyond like only a select few zombie flicks do, but it goes bove its low budget expectations I think.

Good, not great, not horrible.

Share This

10/14/2006 - 1000

One of my little guilty pleasures, Idle Hands is a fun horror/comedy.  Pic stars Devon Sawa as a slacker whose right hand becomes possessed and starts killing people.  Come on, that’s comedy.  This is also the first movie I saw Jessica Alba in so it holds special place in my heart (and my pants).  Mike and Pnub are Sawa’s slacker buddies and living dead friends later in the movie.  They provide excellent pothead comic relief.

One of those movies I enjoy watching every now and again.

Share This

10/13/2006 - 2100

Shaun of the Dead is my absolute favorite zombie movie. That’s saying something too as I have seen a good number of zombie flicks and even own a Zombie Preparedness Kit. As a zombie movie it does everything right. As a comedy it does everything right.

Re-watching it is even more enjoyable than the first viewing. You discover so many little subleties. So many details seem to be well planned out. Good comedy doesn’t happen by accident, nor does good horror.

Everyone should see this movie, ’nuff said.

Share This

10/13/06 - 1440

The Grudge 2? More like The Poop 2! To see a very good summary of what I want to say about this pile of crap see here. There is a completely made up new plotline for the evil grey Asians. Now they just kill everyone everywhere.

There are two interconnected stories jumping back and forth which was supposed to be clever but was transparent and hokey. They retell the entire crappy movie at the end to bring everyone up to speed on what they slept through I suppose. The acting is beyond bad by everyone involved and it’s not helped by the horrible dialog.

Skip it in theaters. Skip it on DVD. Just skip it.

Share This