It's 12:01 AM here, 1 minute into Halloween, and I was reading some stuff from The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe and thought I'd share. So here's some Poe for you. I hope you love this guy as much as I always have.
Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?
In the entire English language I can only think of a few pairs of words that go together as well as "drunken Ewoks" (zombie strippers comes to mind). Apparently on the Today Show this morning, the cast was doing sort of a Star Wars Halloween theme while telling about some fun holiday ideas. Enter Ewoks. A little martini goes a long way when you're 50 lbs I guess. It starts with some scuffling, then there's moonwalking and dancing, and finally it breaks down by the end to some leg humping. Are these things not neutered or what? This is just some classic bizarre TV folks.
Synopsis: After a young, middle class couple moves into a suburban 'starter' tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to. So they set-up a video surveillance to capture evidence of what happens.
The first thing you need to do before seeing this movie is just ignore all the "scariest movie of all-time" and similar quotes. The over-hype for this film actually hurts when people see it I believe because over the 90 minutes of it, a good hour is nothing happening at all except a couple living together. But if you go into it thinking it's just a good, fun, little psychological horror film I think you'll be pleased. I was.
Is it scary? Well, yes, there are scary parts for sure. I think it's creepy enough at time to make your skin crawl but there are a few scenes that will have you jump from the shock. The pacing is odd though as usually a good scare is followed by a return to normalcy and nothing happening for a bit, then it repeats the pattern. But as the "haunting" escalates it builds a nice little mood of dread and there actually is a great payoff when you get to the ending.
The only real negatives I have for it are the character of Micah was annoying the way he brushed it off and teased her and then challenged whatever was haunting her, even after seeing evidence that would have convinced anyone something was going on. The other thing was they both had some pretty wild things happen, they saw them, and they had proof. I would think that was enough for 99% of people to seek help or completely freak out. They just went back to bed the next night and even climbed in the attic late one night, and I can tell you there are very few people brave enough to do that in that situation. Seemed a bit silly. One incident of that nature actually captured on film and I'd have a dozen experts at my house the next night.
Still though, it entertains and all the hype aside, overall it's a very good little faux-documentary. It doesn't rely on big fancy special effects for the scares or have big name Hollywood stars in it. It's not a big, bloody, in-your-face shock-a-thon, it's just a very simple haunted house story with some great suspense and some really good creepy moments.
This is UFC Girl Natasha Wicks and she happens to be modeling the Top 5 Sexy Halloween Costumes of 2009 for RawVegas.tv so I thought to myself... this I must share. Well, I thought a lot of things to myself actually, but I'll just post the video. Now this is great advertising for Halloween in Vegas! If I didn't already have a trip planned there in December I'd probably have booked one just now.
#4 will be reoccurring often in my dreams I do believe.
This screen shot released by Tapulous shows a new finger-tapping music application for the iPhone called "Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica."
In the game, players tap areas on the screen in time with the music, much as players strum or drum plastic instruments in video games such "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero," except on a smaller scale.
The app challenges players to tap along with classic songs from the band’s catalog, such as “One” and “Enter Sandman”.
"Tap Tap Revenge fans have been wanting an app from us that rocks and no band embodies rock music better than Metallica," said Tim O'Brien, head of business development at Tapulous.
“The Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica App really captures the head-thrashing metal of James, Lars, Kirk and Robert and is our most amped up game to date."
The new game is also the first edition of the Tap Tap Revenge series to feature Bluetooth-based Battles Mode that will allow players to challenge each other to battles.
Although the band would likely be able to make the same profit from two nights of live shows as it will with the $4.99 mobile app, 45-year-old drummer Lars Ulrich said for him, its all about staying cool for the younger generation.
"It's one more thing that'll keep me semi-cool in my kids' eyes for another six months until the next thing comes out," Ulrich said. "It's not about the money or revenue or some master plan. This stuff all falls in the fun category."
Around Halloween last year, Ghost House Pictures released its own line of horror films under a new label called Ghost House Underground. There were 8 little indie films looking for releases and overall I'd have to say I enjoyed the entire set for the most part. There were several real stinkers (Trackman, Brotherhood of Blood, Last House in the Woods), a couple of very good films (The Substitute, Dance of the Dead) and the rest that I would consider keepers. All the movies brought a little something different to the table and the quality of the films was for the most part was pretty high.
This year they came back with 4 more titles and overall I think the quality of films was much better. My personal favorite of the bunch was The Children, but at least 3 of the films were better than almost all of the 8 films last year. Offspring would be the one that totally sucked if you are wondering. But still, I'm really hoping they do this every year now.
I've reviewed all of them and was just thinking I'd put them together in 1 handy place for your convenience as they're a perfect fit for some Halloween viewing, maybe even a Ghost House Underground Film Festival?
So you can click the links below to read the reviews.
Life is good. I attended a pretty good beer and brats bash called Little Rocktoberfest on Saturday night with friends before heading back to the casa for more delicious beer sampling and the UFC fights. Since then it's been pretty much chill mode with some horror movies and football and there's more of the same planned for the upcoming Halloween weekend.
Thursday night it's at least my 10th time to see KISS (see here) and Buckcherry and I'm expecting a wild pre-Halloween show with my lifelong pals. I'll be hitting at least 1 "haunted house" on Friday night before my annual horror fest on Saturday. I've actually not been out of town for several weeks, which is sort of weird, but I'll make up for it soon with a 4-day trip to Tunica/Nashville/Memphis in a few weeks, during which we'll be gambling, hitting Jack Daniels distillery, Beale Street, Graceland, great restaurants and I've got tickets to see Queensryche with Lita Ford one night and Gary Allan with Jack Ingram (see here) the following night. That's all followed by Las Vegas for the Metallica show (see here) less than a month later. That should carry me right into the holidays. The 2009 Fall road trip continues. Life is good.
Lots of goodies today in case you haven't spent all your money on candy for the kiddos. Check out this potential haul:
* Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs DVD (animated 2009 movie)
* Night of the Creeps DVD (campy 1986 horror classic)
* Tales From the Darkside Season 2 DVD
* Michael Jackson ~ "This Is It Soundtrack" CD (see more below)
Not only do Michael Jackson fans get the new "soundtrack" but the movie opens tomorrow all over the place and should be a worldwide smash I'd guess. Here's the skinny on it:
"Michael Jackson's This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in Londons O2 Arena."
Synopsis: Based on Jack Ketchum's disturbing novel, survivors of a feral flesh-eating clan are chowing their way through the locals. Amy and Claire strive to survive their abduction by the cannibals and save their children. A subplot involving Claire's despicable husband gives an opportunity to cleverly compare predatory civilized folk to the appetite-driven primitives.
I remember when I was reading this novel a few years ago thinking that it would make a pretty cool movie. Well, I still think the story would definitely make a cool movie, but this ain't it. In fact this ain't even close.
I'm not even sure where to start with all that's wrong with it, but I guess I'll just say the whole mood and atmosphere of it is just feels flat. It never really "felt" like a horror movie to me. There's just no sense of dread or build-up to bad things happening. Even during what should have been the most brutal scene of the film, the power is sucked out of it by the way it's edited. It's hard to really put a finger on a few times, whether it's the really, really bad acting throughout, or the terrible score (which isn't really a score but some horrible sounding instrument of some sort) or the ridiculous make-up job on the baddies. They don't look like cannibal people, they look like normal people with bad make-up and wigs. It's just total suckage on many levels.
This movie feels below a standard B movie even, if that's possible. It's totally amateur on just every level... from the camera work to the editing. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to take it seriously even during the supposedly brutal scenes. The characters are all cliches, but the lead investigator and the abusive husband are both so over-the-top and predictable I actually started laughing a few times. It just felt like I was watching a movie the whole time, the way you might watch a play. Similar to if some kids in my neighborhood shot a horror movie and brought it over for me to watch.
I'm a huge fan of Jack Ketchum and have read a lot of his books and rarely been let down, but even though this is based on his novel and he actually wrote the screenplay, it blows. Big time. Go read the book, it deserves much better than this.
So I watch and review hundreds of movies per year, with a very large percent of them being horror films. I figured if you were looking for something to watch in this upcoming final week before Halloween I'd give you some of my suggestions, complete with links to my reviews so you can see if it sounds like it's right for you. Keep in mind, some of these I might have been blown away by on first watch and had my opinion change on repeated viewings or whatever. These are the original reviews over the last few years.
So here ya go, 20 horror films that I liked for one reason or another. Start clicking and watching.
Get inside UFC 104 When Lyoto The Dragon Machida defends his title against Mauricio Shogun Rua.
Tonight!! UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun
I can't say I'm too blown away by this card really, and even the main event could be pretty one-sided, but there's a few fights I'm interested in. Hopefully this will be one of those cards that surprises me and rocks from start to finish.
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
•Champ Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (for light-heavyweight title) •Ben Rothwell vs. Cain Velasquez •Josh Neer vs. Gleison Tibau •Spencer Fisher vs. Joe Stevenson •Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)
•Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer •Patrick Barry vs. Antoni Hardonk
Check this one out for a classic interview with Dana where he bashes the heck out of Roy Nelson. Do I even need to warn you that there's profanity? Didn't think so.
Somebody asked me about this so here it is. This is the original Saw short film that was originally used to pitch the script for the full-length film Saw. It's a 9 1/2 minute film that was made in 2003 and is often referred to as Saw 0.5 around the net.
It was directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, who also stars in it. The film short later became a scene in Saw, with Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young wearing the Reverse Bear Trap device instead of David.
Do I even need to caution you before watching this? If so, you're stupid.
... time for Saw VI! As has happened on the Friday before Halloween every year for the last 6 years, the latest Saw movie drops today and nobody is more geeked than I. Nobody I say! This week I had my annual Saw marathon and watched the first 5 films in the series and a bunch of the extras, then I officially started reading about the latest film and watching trailers and such that have found their way onto the Internet. I'm fully prepared.
Here's my Idiot's Guide to the Saw Films to refresh your memory if you're not as dorky as I am about the Saw films. And let's face it, who is? I've had people text me or email me this week asking questions about the series. I guess revisiting them all every year sort of keeps everything fresh in my mind. I do so love me some mindless violence.
So on to the new film, and from everything I've read this should be more of a return to form. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in Saw V, as even though I liked it I think it was the weakest entry yet. The traps just weren't as creative and I didn't think it all tied together very well. Also they kept promoting that "you won't believe how it ends!" then didn't deliver on a big ending or twist at all. I've got my fingers crossed for part VI though.
Here's how they all stack up in my book:
1. Saw IV - The stuff Riggs faces is great and Hoffman begins to come forward. Lots more on Jigsaw's history and what makes him tick.
2. Saw II - Shawnee Smith gets a bigger role, and the last 15 minutes are awesome.
3. Saw III - Another great finale, and the brain surgery stuff is sick. We begin to learn Jigsaw's background finally.
4. Saw - Yes, it started it all but Cary Elwes almost ruins it with overacting at the end.
5. Saw V - Hoffman runs the show now pretty much. See above... the traps just aren't as creative.
Yes, I've accepted that Jigsaw and Amanda are done and can go with the Hoffman flow now as I think he's a pretty strong character. In Saw VI, we know special Agent Strahm is dead (pancaked!) and Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. It sounds like the FBI is drawing closer to Hoffman and parts of Jigsaw's grand scheme will finally be understood. This is what I've read anyway. I believe originally this was to be the last film, so I expect loose ends to be tied. We know now that there will be a #7 (rumored to be in 3D) and at least a #8 so I don't know where that story will go.
What else? How my Top 10 Traps From the Saw Films:
1. The Reverse Beartrap on Amanda's jaws in Saw. 2. The Venus Flytrap (aka Death Mask) on Michael in Saw II. 3. The Rack/The Twisting Crucifix in Saw III. Brutal and sick, hurts to watch. 4. The Classroom Trap with chains hooked into the body in Saw III. 5. The Knife Chair in Saw IV, even though it broke on Cecil. 6. The Shotgun Collar on Lynn in Saw III. It just looks cool. 7. The Razor Trap Box in Saw II. I cringe when she shoves her hands in that thing. 8. The Hair Puller/Scalper in Saw IV. I do like women who like their hair pulled though, just not that much. 9. The Bedroom Trap in Room 261 in Saw IV. Beware flying perv's appendages! 10. The Needle Pit in Saw II. Not particularly creative, but sick.
Now some I've left off that are cool, but technically aren't traps because they were just set-up to kill, not escape. Like The Cube Trap in Saw V that fills with water, which ironically Strahm escapes, and The Pendulum Trap in Saw V, where there was no way out... and Seth didn't get out. Yuck. These weren't really traps but simply devices of murder.
So OK, on to the new one. Here's some more goodies for you for part VI:
Dead By Sunrise played "Crawl Back In" on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week. They're the side project of Linkin Park's vocalist, Chester Bennington, and also feature Amir Derakh (Orgy, Rough Cutt) and Ryan Shuck (Orgy).
I'm sure you've seen the video of this drunken idiot trying to buy more beer, but somebody made it into a silent movie to up the comedy ante and posted it on YouTube, so I shall re-post here.
Of course, it's also sort of sad that this loser doesn't know when to quit, but hey I'm laughing at him, not with him. Whatever that means.
Good lord I hope he had a designated driver waiting on him. Possibly with lights on top of it and a backseat cage.
Synopsis: Focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. One is a big wuss and the other (Woody Harrelson) is an AK-toting, zombie-slayin' bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. They join forces with a couple of women who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem and try to avoid succumbing to the zombies.
Right off the bat you're plunged into good zombie action with Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" playing over it and the stage is set for some ass-kicking zombie fun. What is it with zombie movies and awesome intros? Dawn of the Dead has the fantastic Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" to kick it off and now we get Metallica (and later in the film Van Halen and Blue Oyster Cult)? Awesome.
It's part action film, part comedy and part love story... and it all works well together. I thought it dragged a bit at times, but it's under and hour and a half long so things blast along pretty well for the most part.
Woody Harrelson steals the show a lot of the time (and I can only imagine he'd love to really live in a world where he couldn't get busted for pot), but I thought the 4 lead actors/actresses all were very good in their roles. Woody's character is a perfect companion to Jesse Eisenberg's dorky character. The whole Bill Murray sequence is odd, but it breaks the monotony a bit and I felt another character was needed in the movie by that point so it worked well.
Lest you think it's not a "real" zombie movie, as the zombie do move along pretty quickly ala the Dawn of the Dead remake, there's plenty of gore and splatter. Most of it is pretty over-the-top and more entertaining than gross really. It seems the director was shooting more for entertainment and comedy than horror.
The whole zombie apocalypse bit needed a kick in the butt and this very well-made comedy horror flick could do just that. Think Shaun of the Dead meets Dawn of the Dead. With Twinkies.
Here's the third video from Chickenfoot off their debut CD. This is my favorite song on it and also easily the best video they've shot yet. Check out "Sexy Little Thing"...
So once again it's October, the month I always spend watching horror movies as often as possible. Last night I broke out and oldie but goody that's been one of my favorite since I first saw way back the Summer after I graduated high school (shaddup you!) in 1984, Gremlins. It's a family film and it's also a comedy, but make no mistake it's still a horror film. In fact I believe it was one of the first reasons the PG-13 rating came along. I think the PG rating wasn't enough the MPAA felt as although the Mogwai were cute for the kiddos, their nasty Gremlin mutations were evil, violent little bastards.
What's to like about it? Well, it has Phoebe Cates in it for one thing, and in the mid-80s she was pretty much every school boy's wet dream. It also had a nice mix of humor and horror. Sure it's funny to see a gremlin get smacked into the microwave, but it's a bit horrifying to see the microwave turned on and have it explode everywhere. Another juxtaposition in the film was that although the little furry Mogwai (which actually means "demon" or "gremlin" in Cantonese Chinese) were just as cute as they could be, if you didn't follow directions they turned into to crazy little freaks. So yeah, that describes lots of women I've dated in my lifetime right there.
There a great scene in the movie actually tells you most of what you need to know about the mindset of it. It's when Phoebe Cates' character is telling about why she hates Christmas. The story about her father dressing as Santa Claus and getting stuck in the chimney is equal parts dark humor and horrific. I remember sort of wanting to laugh but not being sure if it was supposed to be funny the first time I saw the film. It just comes out of nowhere as well. Classic.
It's far from a perfect movie though, and it gets really silly even for a kid's movie. Water causes the creatures to multiply, yet they walk around in snow most of the movie and drink liquids like it's nothing. Also, the gremlins somehow acquire little guns that are a perfect fit for their little hands as they raid a bar and movie theater, dressed in perfect fitting little outfits while drinking liquor and playing cards and such. Of course, this is also another thing I like about the movie. At no point does it take itself seriously but everything still seems so tongue-in-cheek. A lot of movies try to hard to get that feel to them, this one sort of set the standard.
I always got a kick out of how pathetic the lead characters are at following the important directions given to them. They are clearly told 3 things about Mogwai: 1) they don't like light 2) keep them away from water 3) never feed them after midnight. So what happens? Less than a freakin' minute after Billy opens the present with Gizmo in it, the dad (the most inept inventor of all-time by the way) let's the woman take a picture with a flash bulb! Hello? Oh yeah, that reminds him to pass these important rules along. So less than 24 hours later, Gizmo gets doused with water and not long after that Billy haphazardly feeds the new ones after midnight, apparently not noticing his clock in the bedroom hasn't moved in some time. Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules! Of course, Billy is the same jerk who takes his dog with him to work (in a bank no less). Who does that?
In addition to Phoebe, you still get a who's who of 80's icons with Howie Mandel voicing Gizmo, Corey Feldman (The Lost Boys, Goonies) playing Billy's young friend, Judge Reinhold (Beverly Hills Cop, Fast Times at Ridgemont High), written by Chris Columbus (Young Sherlock Holmes, The Goonies), directed by Joe Dante (The Howling, Twilight Zone: The Movie) and the executive producer was some guy named Steven Spielberg (a little film called E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Back To The Future, Poltergeist).
Lots of neat cameos and nods to other Spielberg films as well throughout as Spike hides behind an E.T. doll in the department store, one of the gremlins says "phone home, caca" at one point, Spielberg has a quick cameo, and at the beginning of the film in Chinatown there's a wrecked car... a Gremlin of course. The theater marquee also shows 2 titles: "A Boy's Life" (the working title for E.T.) and "Watch the Skies" (the working title for Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind). See if you spot George Lucas and Chuck Jones as well.
Copycats ensued of course, with Critters and Ghoulies being the funnest of the bunch. The worst is probably a film called Munchies, which was just a direct knockoff. There was even a sequel called Gremlins 2: The New Batch, which I need to re-watch someday as I really can remember nothing at all about it.
So for a film that was pretty much just a silly kid's movie, in my book it's ended up being one of the better horror/comedy films to come along. I find it very easy to revisit year after year. It's also a good family film for a Halloween watch party, which is hard to find nowadays. There's a good special edition DVD out with lots of commentaries, shorts and deleted scenes you can pick up for under $10 at a lot of places. Well worth it I say.
CBS has released a pretty cool introductory type video of famed heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Good idea trying to get his name out there as the casual MMA fans probably don't know much about the guy.
"Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers" takes place Nov. 7th in prime time on network TV. There are several interesting fights on the card in addition to Fedor and Brett Rogers:
* Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Jake Shields (for vacant Strikeforce middleweight title) * Champ Gegard Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou (non-title match) * Antonio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum
We've almost shifted from all the Halloween releases to a bunch of Christmas stuff. How does Christmas season start a little earlier every year it seems? Soon it will still be hot outside and stores will start the onslaught. I do only see 1 Christmas music CD today though, from Olivia Newton-John. Oh joy! I wanted to get physical with her about 30 years ago. Of course she's probably still hot. But anyway, on to things actually within my grasp... new releases, including a solo Eagle, some horror and another season of one of my favorite shows the last 5 years. Here's the skinny:
* Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DVD (action film, reviewed here)
* Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead DVD (horror)
* 100 Feet DVD (horror... I really thought I'd reviewed this film but I can't find it... anywho, it's decent, nothing special, and stars Famke Janssen as an abused wife who begins getting abused by her husband's ghost after she kills him... seriously)
* Numb3rs Season 5 DVD
* Cartel ~ "Cycles" CD
* Tim McGraw ~ "Southern Voice" CD
* Rammstein ~ "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" CD (translated: "Love Is There for Everyone")
* Timothy B. Schmit ~ "Expando" CD (his first solo album in eight years... guests: Dwight Yoakam, Kid Rock, Graham Nash, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Keb' Mo', Kenny Wayne Shepherd)
* SOiL ~ "Picture Perfect" CD
* Joss Stone ~ "Colour Me Free" ~ (guests: Jeff Beck, Sheila E., David Sanborn)
Whoa, the new trailer for the video game Aliens vs Predator is out and it looks pretty bad ass. It should be out in 2010 for PS3 and XBox 360. Check it out:
Aliens vs Predator is an entirely new title for PC and high-definition consoles from acclaimed British developer Rebellion, the team behind the 1999 original PC gaming classic.
Bringing the legendary war between two of science-fiction’s most popular characters to FPS fans, AvP delivers three outstanding single player campaigns and provides untold hours of unique 3-way multiplayer gaming.
Experience distinctly new and thrilling first person gameplay as you survive, hunt and prey in the deadly jungles and swamps surrounding the damned colony of Freya’s Prospect.
- As the Marine, you’ll experience a claustrophobic and terrifying experience where light is your friend, but there’s never enough. However, the United States Marine Corps are humanity’s last line of defence, and as such they are armed to the teeth with the very latest in high explosive and automatic weaponry.
- As the Predator, you will stalk from the shadows and from above, passing athletically through the treetops to ambush your victims. Although equipped with an array of powerful, exotic weapons and tracking equipment, honour ultimately dictates that you must get in close and take your trophies face to face.
- As the most deadly species in the universe, the Alien offers you the chance to play as the very stuff of nightmares - the monster in the dark swarming forward with countless others, jaws like a steel trap and claws like blades.
- Play all sides off against each other in a series of unique 3-way online modes and go tooth-to-claw-to-pulse rifle in the reinvention of one of multi-player gaming’s defining moments.
Synopsis: Americans honeymooning in China come across the exotic "Hungry Ghost" festival. When night falls, the couple end up in a remote village and soon realize the legend is all too real. Plunged into an ancient custom they cannot comprehend, the couple must find a way to survive the night of the Seventh Moon.
The first thing you need to know is that this was directed by Eduardo Sanchez, who also directed The Blair Witch Project. Now that movie was supposed to filmed as if it was a documentary, so I can understand all the terrible camera angles, shakiness and confusing action sequences. It was supposed to be that way for added realism. Why he would choose to do the same thing on this movie is beyond me. This isn't supposed to be a first person type film, but just a regular movie and I assume he's trying to make it feel like you're right there in the middle of the chaos. Maybe I don't want to be in the middle of the chaos though, maybe I like sitting in my living room just observing it? It's often way too dark, confusing and by the end I considered buying some tripods out of my own pocket and sending them to him to hold the damn cameras still.
But once you're past that it's actually a fun little movie, but nothing new at all. Basically the American couple spends a lot of time trying to get away from the creepy looking bad guys and also trying to figure out what the hell is going on, much like the viewer. The acting is OK, the creepy monsters and effects are decent (what you can see of them anyway in the way too dark shots) and the pace is quick once things get going. There are a few good jump type scares.
It's sort of equal parts The Blair Witch Project, an episode of The Shield and Neil Marshall's The Descent. Nowhere near great, could have been much better, but overall not a total waste of time.
I talked a bit about The Wolfman movie just a few weeks ago as the net has really started buzzing and now there's a trailer out and it looks really cool. Check it out from ClevverTV.com.
The Wolfman hits theatres February 2010.
Synopsis: When an American citizen returns to his personal "old country" in search of his missing brother, he finds himself on the bad end of an ancient curse when he's bitten and ultimately becomes a werewolf. Now, he's got to not only try and find his missing brother but also get his curse cleared up before he runs afoul of angry villagers or relentless Scotland Yard detectives.
* So my STL Cardinals got bounced from the playoffs. It sucks that they choked and got swept so easily without a fight, but they had a good season so I guess I can live with that. We got another Cy Young Award maybe, another MVP award maybe and another division title so it wasn't a total bust. Most people had the Cubs picked in pre-season anyway. The offseason shake-up could be an interesting one for the Birds so I'll be paying close attention to that.
* As for the rest of the playoffs... I haven't watched a game in a week as the 4 teams left are all in the top 9 in salaries and I especially hate the Yankees, whose over $200 mil payroll is way in front of everyone. They need to level the playing field as the teams that spend the most usually win the most, and that sucks. I couldn't care less which of these teams win it. As soon as the Rockies, Twins and Cards were gone there was no little man in the race. Why don't they just sell the trophy? Highest bidder get's it. I love baseball, and I love the Cardinals... but I'm hating MLB a little more every year.
* And my Arkansas Razorbacks gave Florida all they wanted yesterday in the Swamp but came up short 23-20. Helluva good effort. I get sick of all the whining from fans saying the refs missed calls and gave it to Florida blah blah blah. Good teams win despite officials and we had chances, including 2 missed field goals from inside 40 yards. Please, stop whining. We covered the spread by 22 points and if there is such a thing as a moral victory, losing by 3 on the #1 team in the country's field has got to be one. Live with it. The Hogs gained a lot of respect yesterday.
* On to my Steelers... while they've won 3 in a row they're beating teams like Detroit and Cleveland so I'm not sure everything is exactly straightened out. Sure Big Ben is playing well but we're a different team without Troy Polomalu and Aaron Smith for sure. Willie Parker is back at least but Mendenhall has done fine lately without him so that hasn't hurt us. It's those late comebacks that are hurting us, and Troy's return will help that. At least the division is still wide open so there's plenty of time to get it going. In fact, despite the 1-2 start we're now tied for 1st place in the AFC North.
* Sadly, Jermain Taylor's fight went just as I expected last night. He started strong, winning at least the first 3 rounds vs Arthur Abraham, maybe the first 4 even, and then started fading. When he got knocked out cold with about 15 seconds left in the 12th round, it was deja vu all over again and he was stuck with his 2nd straight loss in the last seconds of a fight. His time as one of the elites in the boxing ring is over. Here's his last 5 fights...
KO'd by Abraham KO'd by Carl Froch WON a decision over Jeff Lacy LOST a decision to Pavlik TKO'd by Pavlik
... And that's how a 27-0-1 record turns into a 28-4-1 record very quickly. I still love the Arkansan though and would love to see him get a big win over somebody before he hangs it up. But it looks like he may drop out of the Super Six tourney now as he's hospitalized in Germany suffering from a severe concussion and short-term memory loss. Here's to a him getting better and gettin home quickly.
This is LastDayHere and they're from Slovenia (yes, the Alps etc.). This is off their debut album “From Pieces Created” and I believe they're unsigned at this point, but I'm guessing not for long.
The song is called "Saved From Falling" and it rocks a bit.
Synopsis: At a remote Arctic research station, four ecology students discover the real horror of global warming is not the melting ice, but what's frozen within it. A prehistoric parasite is released from the carcass of a Woolly Mammoth upon the unsuspecting students who are forced to quarantine and make necessary sacrifices, or risk infecting the rest of the world.
There's a little bit of horror and a whole lot of preaching about global warming in this cliched film. Pretty much everything in it has been done at some time or another but it's still a very watchable and somewhat entertaining flick with decent acting. Val Kilmer is actually in it, but his screen time is pretty minimal. They must have gotten a discount on him.
The film does a good job at building tension, plays upon some phobias and uses the isolation well. If you don't like bugs, you might want to avoid it though. Lots of creepy bugs. The bugs look pretty good, although a bit ridiculous when they turn from a few to thousands a very short time frame set upon the tasty flesh. I admit I did get a bit of the heebie jeebies watching it (whatever that is). There is only a bit of gore as our creepy little friends burrow into people leaving nasty little eggs and belly gunk.
I wish the political commentary had been just a bit more subtle, as it's anything but that. Instead of an underlying theme of "please stop global warming" they may of well have dressed up dolphins in Greenpeace t-shirts and written them into the script every few minutes.
But all-in-all it's a fun and competently made film. Again though, it's just so formulaic, right down to the characters and situations. The angry daughter, the sweet guy, the jerk who freaks out, the father buried in his work so much he has no time for his daughter... etc. The plot itself is equal parts Cabin Fever and The Thing with maybe some of An Inconvenient Truth sprinkled in.
Synopsis: A documentary based on the true story of The Watseka Wonder, America's first documented possession in 1870. A chilling story of a 13-year-old girl from the small town of Watseka, Illinois who became possessed by spirits of the insane dead.
Another spooky documentary from the Booth Brothers, Philip Adrian Booth and Christopher Saint Booth, who have also done Spooked: The Ghosts of Waverly Hills (2006) and Children of the Grave (2007), both of which have their moments. As the story goes, they were shooting their movie Death Tunnel actually in Waverly Hills and so many creepy things occurred that they decided to do a documentary on the place and happenings and now supernatural documentaries seem to be their calling.
But back to The Possessed. It's a whole lot like their other 2 ghost docs in it's structure. Equal parts interviews, recreations, creepy images, ghost hunting and "evidence." It's got a lot of interviews with people associated with the story, others who claim to have been possessed and local ghost hunters or the like who know the area or locations.
The story of The Watseka Wonder is a very interesting one. Basically a young girl named Mary Roff from Watseka, Illinois was committed to an insane asylum after years of violent behavior, fits, self-mutilation, etc. Twelve years later a young girl, also from Watseka, Lurancy Vennum, began showing the same signs and was claimed to have been possessed by the deceased Mary Roff. That's it in a nutshell.
The Booth Brothers travel to Watseka to film at the actual Roff and Vellum homes and interview family members, historians and such and also investigate with local ghost hunters and their equipment. They have some interesting EVPs and the whole thing is done in a very professional and interesting way. They play some audio of the real "Emily Rose" (Anneliese Michel) and they're pretty wicked sounding. I do laugh at some of the enthusiasm of some of these people though, as there are lots of exclamation points on quotes they use and it seems like a lot of things have much simpler explanations than instantly jumping to ghosts and the like. They're really good at sensationalizing it all, but hey it makes for better movies.
It's sort of like a 90 minute episode of Ghost Hunters with some recreations and more interviews. I found in very fascinating and pretty creepy. If you're into this sort of ghost hunting thing, this is yet another fun doc from The Booth Brothers and I'll recommend you check out the other 2 that I mentioned above. Personally I love these guys and their work.
Here's a couple of new videos from Showtime promoting Arkansan Jermain Taylor for the upcoming Super Six World Boxing Classic. The tournament is by Showtime to find out who the best boxer at the Super-Middleweight division is. Taylor Faces Arthur Abraham in the first round October 17th.
As the oldest of five growing up in Little Rock, Taylor brought a strong work ethic to the gym. He won the grand prize of his youth boxing tournament and has been fighting ever since.
Recovery and preparation are two words driving Taylor. As the only Super Six fighter coming off a loss, Jermain Taylor's training must be the most disciplined.
Last time I checked I'm still in Arkansas, yet it's raining every freakin' day here for the last few months it seems! It's driving me to lay on the couch and watch football instead of my usual biking and hiking and boating and basically getting outside and doing things like I normally do this time of the year. It's getting sort of depressing. The Arkansas State Fair is this week as well and I always love to get out there and eat all the horrible food and see some bands and such, but I'm not walking around in this crap. For the year, Little Rock is 19.70 inches above the norm, and the majority of it has been made since March. Enough already. If one more person says something about building an ark I may start swinging on them.
I even made a rain mix on my iPod, featuring such goodies as...
Keith Urban's Raining on Sunday Milli Vanilli's Blame It On The Rain CCR's Who'll Stop The Rain Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again Bruce Hornsby's Mandolin Rain Guns N Roses' November Rain Prince's Purple Rain Blind Melon's No Rain Eddie Rabbit's I Love A Rainy Night The Carpenters' Rainy Days and Mondays Supertramp's It's Raining Again Jackyl's When Will It Rain Black Stone Cherry's Rain Wizard Warrant's Let It Rain Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood
eh, you get the picture. I've got like 30+ songs on it so far.
So while it's raining, go to the store and get some new media to pass the time. Here's today of interest list...
Synopsis: A relaxing Christmas vacation for 2 families takes a turn into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents in a secluded vacation home as their kids deteriorate into crazed homicidal maniacs.
Just when I thought I was the only one who is afraid of children along comes yet another freaky kids movie. Well, maybe I'm more afraid of a lot of parents complete lack of control of kids than the kids themselves. This time though it starts with a bunch of normal kids and they get "infected" with some sort of virus or something, we never really know. What it causes is some pretty brutal mayhem and a lot of good horror moments.
The pace of the movie is great I thought, with a very suspenseful build-up that really gets the tension going then once the bloody mayhem begins about halfway through, it races to a frantic finish. Most of the true horror isn't as much in-your-face, although there is some of that, but more in a psychological sense. I mean these are children after all, and what was once sort of taboo in the movies, the killing of children, occurs often here.
And speaking of the kids, the young actors in this film really bump it up a notch in my opinion. I was surprised to find that they were all excellent little actors. They're helped by a script in which the kids seem to really behave like normal kids (until the virus of course) but still thumbs up to whoever cast this film for sure. It's a British film so maybe there are just a whole lot of better British child actors to choose from over there?
There's a good bit of character development and it's probably saying something deeper about parents and their bonds with their children, as well as step parents and cousins, nieces and nephews in general as the families gather for the holidays. What I did like about the way these things were handled here was most of the relationships were just hinted at, leaving a lot open to the audience and keeping you thinking and surmising your own opinions.
Even though it's sort of a moody film, it's still shocking and has a lot of those "wow" moments. By the end I was exhausted a bit. And you don't even want to play the whole "what would I do" with this one, especially if you're a parent. C'mon, the tagline on this is "You brought them into the world. They will take you out." Seriously.
Very good low budget British horror here and well worth a watch.
This sort of a cool video. It's a compilation of movie clips from the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" films, "Freddy vs. Jason" and "Freddy's Nightmares" set to the song "Are You Ready For Freddy" performed by Fat Boys.
