October Horrordays

[Curt McGirt]

 

 

Is this a Naschy? No wonder it sucked. I only saw one of his werewolf movies (Curse of the Devil?) and it was also coma-inducing levels of boring even with tits included. Of course, I actually liked a non-werewolf movie of his "The Hunchback at The Morgue" as vintage Eurotrash B-movie sleaze. Yes, Naschy plays the titular hunchback and yes the hunchback gets some and we get to see it.

 

I'm still compelled to getting around to seeing Wolfman vs. The Yeti. http://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/The_Night_of_the_Howling_Beast

That just sounds too random and thrown together to totally foul up.

 

 

 

 

if not I'm throwing it back and watching Night of the Werewolf for my Naschy fix this year, or the truly awesome Vengeance of the Zombies

[Curt McGirt]

Paul's no Jorge Grau or Amando de Ossorio but he did a couple good flicks. And hey, that Hunchback movie... I still want a DVDR of it.

[Brisco]

Found a site that sorts Netflix movies as you wish (instantwatcher.com). I sorted all 601 Horror movies by title and am giving it a go straight through the list, which may yield some interesting results. In the least it will force me to watch some I would have otherwise skipped, though I will never finish all 601.

 

3. 100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck (Andersen 2012)

 

If this is a good example of the "Lost Footage" sub-genre then it isn't for me. We get footage from police files about a group of people spending the night at the dorm where Richard Speck murdered 8 women. Surprisingly enough the ghost stories about the place are real and the crew get off'ed one by one. I lost any interest in liking this movie about 15 minutes in, because it is just that bad. My biggest gripe is that there is zero backstory or character development to be had. The lack of connection to the characters leaves me not caring about their deaths, which cuts out any suspense the movie may have had. Your time would be better spent watching the Anne Hache version of Psycho which should speak volumes about this film. 1/5

[piranesi]

I'm pretty sure this belongs here.  In these October threads, we've been over the big series so many times, that it's hard to come up with a new angle.  But I still want to watch them and post about them...So, i'm turning to the music.

 

There's something special about the 80s wave of pop-horror and I think a lot of it has to do with how fundamentally moody and creepy the synth./guitar heavy 80s sound was.  Those screeching guitar solos in FRIGHT NIGHT are sort of the standard by which I judge modernized horror...just enough of the old gothic sound, mixed with a sleezy kind of 80s Brett Easton Ellis smarm.

 

Reading all the stuff on Gawker about Sinead O'Connor this week, I was weirdly surprised to find myself watching the last few minutes of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER and as the credits started rolling, First I was like, "YES...this is that sound!"  and then I was like..."wait a second...that's not..." So I did some digging and while I know everyone remembers Dokken from Part 3...I just want to pay tribute to the bizarre sequence of musicians who show up in this fantastically "Holy Shit, it's still the 80s, but 1990 is just about to hit, isn't it?" soundtrack for Part 4..and some of the weird places this led me: To start with, the song playing over the opening credits is written and performed by the girl who plays Kristen in the movie. 

Her name is Tuesday Knight...Yeah...How fucking awesome is that.  If you wrote a movie about a character named Tuesday Knight, people would be like "You know what, dummy?  I'm not buyin' it!  It's ridiculous.  No one in real life has a name that cool.  Change it."  Well, you know what?  You were wrong about that, assholes.  Becuase Tuesday Knight is out there.  Seriously..fantastic, and this song has all that sleezy, synthesizery, overdone drums sound that always makes me think of Patrick Bateman and/or Charlie Brewster...Fuck yeah, 80s!

 

Before being killed by Freddie, she sang backup vocals for Quiet Riot.  Yeah.  Kevin Dubrow probably hit on her while trying to cover up his hair plugs.  She also sang a cover of "every breathe you take" in one of the first episodes of PROFILER

 

Boom.  Just that would be enough for a human life.  But she is currently keyboardist in a David Bowie tribute band.  The closing credits?  The aforementioned Sinead O'Connor with MC Lyte.  

Does anyone remember MC Lyte?  Of course not.  But she is here, quoting "In the Mood for Love" and sounding every bit like every other forgettable crossover rap artist of that horrible, horrible year of 1990 that was about to descend upon us with all of its Neneh Cherry-y and Gerardo-y and EMF-y hellscape.  What a bizarre pairing.

 

Next! The Vinnie Vincent Mother Fucking Invasion...

Yeah.  The guy who replaced Ace Frehley in the shitty unmasked version of KISS.  When he was kicked out of that?...he started this.  This song...is amazing.  It is the kind of generic metal ballad that will somehow give you flashbacks even if you've never heard it before. So Vinnie Vincent...poor man's Ace Frehley and now poor man's Don Dokken.

 

I'm not sure what that gesture is that he's doing in that picture.  It's like he's pointing at me.  But his hand is tilted the wrong direction.  His hand is prepared to tell me to come toward him.  So, it's like 1/3 pointing at me, 1/3 telling me to "come here" and maybe 1/3 flipping me off?  You know what?  I don't have time for your special gestural language Vinnie Vincent.  No one understands what we are supposed to do with that, which is probably why your invasion failed.

 

 

If you're not hooked already, then just try to resist this:

From Billy Idol's disastrous follow-up album to Rebel Yell.  It's not like it's not great...It's great.  The world just kept moving and he kind of stayed the same.  Now the gesture in this picture, I get.  That's the Heisman trophy pose, if the Heisman trophy was won by a sassy cat. Guys, this is just the start. and I'm already out of Youtube links for one post...and I haven't even touched on the Fat Boys yet...so standby...

[piranesi]

Soundtracks of October: Part I, section B: A NIGHTGMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER continued...

 

Okay, so if we're going to "understand" the soundtrack to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER, well, then, at some point...we are going to have to come to terms with The Fat Boys: "Are you Ready for Freddy?"

 

How one thing can be so wrong and so right at the same time is baffling.  If I may quote the Wiki-wee description of this:

 

 

Prince Markie Dee's "Uncle Frederick" has died, and his lawyer meets the group outside the Nightmare on Elm Street house. The lawyer informs Markie that he must spend the night inside Uncle Frederick's home to earn his inheritance, so the group enters, and not long after Freddy Krueger appears and begins to chase the band throughout the house slashing with his claw while stopping to rap.

So, if this is canon, then we are to understand that Freddy Krueger has a nephew.  And this he is somewhere in all this:

I'll be damned if I know which one.  The one in the red sweater maybe?

A couple of things about this:
1) If you're wondering whether the line "Well, my name is Freddy and I'm here to say..." shows up in this song.  Put your mind at ease.  It's there.
2) Two of the fat boys are sort of fat...and one of them, is really in serious distress.
3) If you fast forward to the very end of the video, I'm almost certain Paul Giamatti shows up for just a second.
4) I'd like to imagine that Chris Rock's character from CB4 saw this in the theater and was extremely conflicted.

 

Also, you know what?  How does Freddy Kreuger have a will?  And what, exactly does he have to bequeath?  That hat?  Because THAT HOUSE IS NOT HIS HOUSE TO BEQUEATH!!!!!  THAT HOUSE WAS OWNED BY MARGE AND DON THOMPSON AND, I'M ASSUMING AFTER NANCY THOMPSON MYSTERIOUSLY DIED WHILE WORKING AS A COUNSELOR FOR TROUBLED YOUTH, DON THOMPSON SOLD IT TO THE BANK AFTER WHICH IT WAS SOLD TO KEN WALSH WHO ABANDONED IT AFTER HIS SON SODOMIZED THE GYM TEACHER...AND SO IT PROBABLY BELONGS TO THE CITY NOW!!!!

I'm seriously beginning to question the continuity of this Freddy-verse.

So, this movie is just dripping with amazing music...and weirdly it's not really known for that.  No one talks about how awesome the soundtrack for the fourth Elm Street movie was...it's not like a thing.  But it should be.  On top of all the other amazing stuff already mentioned, we have some Divinyls:

 

We've got Nick Gilder who kicked around the periphery of various soundtracks for decades, here doing an awesome Moody Blues impression that immediately evokes HALLOWEEN, but with just a smudging of Journey-esque 80s guitar squeals to make it really nibble at your nuts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KDpYFKaJ2A


For you Brits, Go West shows up and contributes the inspiring romantic song

"Don't be afraid of your dreams"  Get it!!!!!!  They tied it into the themeofwhatever...Okay, I'll admit it...I'm starting to scrape against the bottom of the pool here.  But there are still a few more gems from the lesser known groups.  My personal favorite:

Dramarama: "Anything"  Does anyone from New Jersey remember them?  I feel like I should know them based on how long their Wikipedia article is...but I think we all know who probably wrote that Wikipedia article...John Easdale...lead singer of Dramarama, that's who!  Did you know that one of their songs was included on the CD that came in the box with the Sega CD game system?  That must have seemed like it was going to be a turning point for them...and for Sega.  In a way, it was.
Why am I bitching at them? This song is awesome.

There's a pretty big dropoff from there and I'm already out of youtube links again.  For you serious metal historians, The Angels (from Angel City) show up too

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD2wNYVkO_o

 

and they're just as sloppy good as you might hope. Plus some more generic glam stuff.  But there's at least a 9-10 track-deep playlist to be created out of this movie and dumped on your ipod for when you're feeling like your own unconcsious is turning against you and no one is listening to what you're trying to tell them, and you decide you're just going to have to go down into that boiler room and come up with some stupid way to make your demons melt and release all the bland spirits of a bunch of pretty unimpressive teenagers all in the hopes that you might be able to finally go on a date with that one really dumb guy who's somehow still alive in your stupid town filled with molestors and drunken vigilantes.

You've earned that much!

[FluffSnackwell]

I didn't really feel the length, so that wasn't a problem for me.

 

But I will agree with you that some of the visuals did not work at all. The big climax for example looked pretty awful when the animation came in. Just because he was influenced by these people DOES NOT mean he does it half as well. I think the movie works best in the quieter segments, because the mood works. When it's time to pay off the anticipation with some type of action that's when he falters. For example when Heidi goes into the room to have sex with Satan. The lead up to that was great. And then when it was time for the action - it became comical and juvenile. This actually happened quite a bit with his more jumpy scares. Like when Satan clomps into her bedroom with that music punctuating each flap of his feet.

 

I think Rob Zombie has some great ideas, and this movie has more cool ones than a lot of his others. But he's not particularly graceful when it comes to getting across his big ideas. DICKS IN YOU FACE! 

 

What I do like about him is that he pretty much goes for it. Whatever the hell is on his mind he puts it out there, or tries to anyway. He has a unique voice that sometimes doesn't say anything interesting or says it too loud, but it's refreshing to have around.

 

Now this much I wholeheartedly agree and am on board with. I did love The Devil's Rejects although from all the hype what I was expecting was a movie where the Rejects actually escaped the clutches of their pursuers several times whereas what we actually got was them fleeing Johnny Law one time at the beginning and then being total pushovers when the true badasses tracked them down right near the end. Somehow I was expecting just a little bit more of a western revenge than a celebration of anti-hero scum but it doesn't matter because the final product was just fine with Rejectss.

 

House of 1,000 Corpses is something I don't consider anything more than fun background noise. I was fine with him reimagineering Mikey Myers as a white trash serial killer but felt that the actual showdown between Mikey and Laurie was the antithesis of the original; instead of being tense and masterfully crafted it was tedious and dragged on forever and forever, creepy lighting is replaced by some jagoff brute literally busting through walls.

 

Finally, when looking at HO1C and Rejects as a whole, Dr. Satan and the big Bane-looking guy with flamethrower was just kind of tacked on to the white trash psychobilly histrionics of the rest of the family. Which gets me to the point that for a guy who loves monsters and weirdness I don't think Zombie has made a movie that went full-on Fulci with the monsters and ridiculous gore during his stint in the genre.

 

Getting back to Lords for the sake of comparison I'll say nothing worked as well in it as the reveal of Mother in The House Of The Devil. While the effect didn't last, it was creepy enough that upon first seeing it, the impact was the same as laying eyes upon Zelda from Pet Sematary or the first time I randomly stumbled across Brian Peppers at 3 in the morning. In a word truly freaky. Pork Satan just doesn't hold up those reveals or creature effects.

 

And to West's credit the original first reveal of mother was supposed to be a much less  impressive peak of her hunched over upstairs which would've took so much from holding off on the ultimate reveal. Of course, I also think West likes the smell of his own farts a little too much although I guess he at least tried raunchy and raucous with the Cabin Fever sequel.

[piranesi]

I'm trying best I can to remember great songs from my favorite 80s horror movies.  I'm trying to stick to "songs" rather than "scores" because I'd like to collecct those great moody, slow echoey pop songs that always showed up in the end credits...also power ballads...never enough power ballads.

The prototype of the sound is this (which admittedly is more score...but uses the instrumentation of a "song" if that makes sense):

That's the sound. 

Rhythm = boom (pause) bm BOP - boom  (pause) bm BOP
Synthesizers noodling away on some repeated little swirl thingy
 Guitars screaming away, taking on the same basic role that the saxophone did in old cop shows somehow representing the voices of the lost souls in the urban jungle of the cocaine, Spader-80s.
   

   DOUBLE SUPER BONUS: Taking that "score" and turning it into a "song" for the sequel:
   

   
   Some ther examples that fit in the mold:
   
   

   Bonus points for adding children's voices and adapting to a later 80s Alt-rock vibe.
   
   
   This one is pretty rad too:
   

   Noodly swirly synth?  Check
   screeching guitars in the background? Check
   Only missing the sexy "every Michael Mann movie ever" drum part
   
I have room for one more...and this one again is actually more like the "score" but it is very much in line with the song type I'm describing.. Be aware, the video is straight from the movie...SO THERE ARE A PAIR OF BOOBS FLASHED!!!!!
   
   

   Michael Mann drums? Yes
   creepy melody? Yes
   synthesizers?  Are you kidding?
   screeching guitars?  Not here...too cheap to hire a session guitarist

 

The best part of this last one is that we get what is essentially the score to the ritual preparation of the sacrifice, as the teenagers paint themselves up and don the costumes of ignorant privilege and sexual excess that mark them for consumption by the forces of fate...all while the representatives of that fate begin to gather outside.

 

If I was a song writer, all I would do is write scores and songs on spec for horror movies that haven't been made, and then just send them out to every studio.  I would leave behind the most bizarre collection of unheard music ever.  But, what other kind of music would anyone ever want to write?  this is literally the highest the art form has ever reached.

[Swift]

Does anyone remember MC Lyte?  Of course not.

 

Don't want to take this further off course, but that's just not true, is it?

 

What about this?

 

 

or this...

 

 

Furthermore, a quick google tells me that she got a career achievement award at the BET awards just last week.

[piranesi]

Damn!  MC Lyte and Sinead O'Connor both big this week.  If Cathy Dennis shows up on JUSTIFIED or something, I'm going to freak out.

 

 

As I'm obsessing over the music from 80s horror, and while I'm mainly trying to confine myself to the songs, given the running battle on this board between two old favorite slashers, I thought it might be a good time to stop and think about not songs, but two particular and very different scores...one which uses all traditional instruments and one which is almost all (cheaper?) synthesizers:BATTLE 1:The Champion: Harry Manfredinihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19QjYFrJxWAThe Contender? Rick Wakemanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e27btUeIWIOne big difference, and a reason I will always love the Friday movies the most, is that...if you go beyond that one track into the entire score, you'll find that THE BURNING, like most movies has lots of different kinds of music to match the changes of mood.  There's a goofy banjo ditty for a campfire part, and some light Cheap-Trick sounding guitar riffing for when the teenagers are romping around being all leftover 70s and short-short-wearing and proto-Costanza.The early Friday movies are having NONE OF THAT NONSENSE!!!!  There are two moods:1) silent with a few creepy string trills (in other words, you are being stalked) and2) screaming strings and brass (in other words, you are being killed)those are the only two states of being that exist in those movies.  It does a lot to keep the tension level high.  I like that.  It makes it soo much more powerful when that one little bit of "happy music" shows up right before the big final scare.I'm going to end up splitting my attention probably between "scores" and "songs" but hopefully this helps keep a properly spooky mood going through the thread. 

[JRGoldman]

I am shocked that you haven't gone through the Lost Bous sound track yet, which remains the only album I have ever bought on cassette multiple times.

Also, I must commend you. One of my favorite things on this board us 'Piranesi: Dramaturg for movies likely to be featured on USA Up All Night'. I fully expect a complete history of Zapped Again once Halloween is over.

[The Z]

I'm not really a big horror guy, but I'll try to watch a couple of movies this year.

So far I've watched the new Evil Dead movie from this year and the first Hatchet movie.

 

Jesus, was Evil Dead gory. That was insane. I haven't seen the original movies in years, but I don't think this felt a lot like those movies. I'd still say it was pretty damn good, though.

After watching that movie, Hatchet felt like a light-hearted comedy in comparison. This started off really slow and I didn't really get into it for a long time, but by the end I was kind of digging it. Always good to see Richard Riehle in things.

[piranesi]

[REC] 2I'm pretty late to this, so I won't go into detail because most of you already know all three movies.A few things I was really impressed with:1) Dropping right into the story with almost no setup.  It's been long enough since we watched QUARANTINE that my wife totally forgot that it existed and remembered nothing.  So to her, this was just a movie not a sequel.  And it worked really well that way.  She mentioned how great it was that we were dropped into a story in the middle like a video game.  It's a good point and I wish more movies would do that.  We're all used to that now.  It's how Dead Space and a ton of other horror survival games start, going all the way back to Doom.  You are dropped into 1st person mode in the middle of the aftermath of something that already went down, with blood on the walls and bodies hanging from the ceiling.  It worked really well here.2) Given the fast pace of the opening, I would have been completely content with just a more action-oriented extension of the first movie...ALIENS compared to ALIEN or something like that.  And I was fully expecting this to just be a cash-in with a twist to set up a third movie.  But they were generous and bold and gave us the big twist right up front, making this into a very different story with different stakes.3) I was already happy with all that, but then I got a big kick (at least at first) with the secondary characters showing up, and the two stories blending into each other.  I love that kind of thing.Not so great:  1) It wasn't actually very scary.  There were some creepy moments early, and a couple of really icky parts near the end.  But the actual threat remained the same (28 DAYS LATER Zombies running toward you).  You can only go through that same shaky cam struggle so many times over two movies before it loses all impact.  This is a pretty hard negative to recover from...for a horror movie...not being scary...2) The teenagers that show up for Act II were intolerable and endlessly screechy.  In fact, there was way to much screaming in general.  That guy Larro wouldn't stop bellowing, and those fucking kids?  I don't think I've actively hated a character as much as I hated spanish McLovin (and his stupd red pants) in a long time.Verdict: Okay.  More clever than scary...so I don't know if that makes it "good"...maybe something you watch on your own as a fan of the genre, but not something you would show or recommend to anyone else if they ask for "a good horror movie."  As much as she was into the opening, my wife was bored by the end, which means she's going to choose the next movie...which means we watch THE EXORCIST...AGAIN!

[Reed]

I saw the Evil Dead remake for the first time too recently. Not a patch on the first one, but way superior to most of the horror reboots floating around these days.

 

The Last Exorcism Part 1 and 2. First one has a really intriguing first 3/4 but then throws in a pretty contrived "solution." Second one is pretty bland and not scary at all.

 

Re-watched The Blair Witch Project again. IMO, still the best found footage film ever. Heather is still one of the few horror heroines that seems like a believable person and it's actually a little torturous to see her slowly losing her mind. I go back and forth on the explanation, but I like the theory (floated by one of the directors) that nothing supernatural is going on and they were getting taunted then killed by sadistic rednecks or the Blair Witch cult (the fact that they made such a big deal about being in town and filming a movie would back that up).  With the exception of Ringu, I don't think any horror film has ever been as good as building up the dread.

 

Insidious Chapter Two: A few genuinely unsettling moments and I liked the twist about the main villain. Not as good as the first one, but very decent.

[piranesi]

I am shocked that you haven't gone through the Lost Bous sound track yet, which remains the only album I have ever bought on cassette multiple times. 

 

As much as I love certain moments in that soundtrack...like to the point where they were foundational listening.  Like, I heard the Echo and The Bunnymen "People are Strange" before I bought my first Doors Album [note: in 1988 "album" meant cassette].  And as I mentioned upthread "Cry Little Sister" is one of the best movie songs of all time.  The INXS stuf leaves me cold.  But there are a couple of nice lesser-known tunes.  I especially like this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I92u-SJRNM4But there is a problem...and I think you all know what it is.  It's a big, oileded-up, ponytailed problem called Tim Cappello.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P23c9KO5uYNow, when I was 15 and saw this movie, that scene was astounding and confusing.  As a die-hard contarian kid who was more into old blues and old metal than pop, I was all pissy like "Ha! Look at that stupid poser!  He should be in the Vinnie Vincent Invasion HAHAHA!!!"  But there was this little part of me what was thinking  "This is magnificent."  As a midwestern boy, I was secretly hoping/assuming that whenever I got around to dropping out of school and hitchhiking to the west coast., that was what it was going to be like...every night.  An orgy of excess and guileless, tasteless, pointless outlet of energy.  I was so jealous of those L.A. (yeah, Santa Carla, whatever) kids and how far ahead of everything they were than me and my friends.  Thier music, their clothes, their hair, their grandparents, their saxophone posers...everything about them was better than me...and that stupid, gross motherfucker and his stupid saxophone was like the guardian of the Holy Grail to me.  Like if you get to the grail room, and the guardian says "Choose the grail that is the true grail of Christ." and you of course pick the gaudiest most rhinestone encrusted, neon-light-blinkiest one covered in Rick Springfield pogs...and the Guardian of the Grail is like "NAILED IT!  Of course he would have the RADDEST CHALICE EVERY, MY DUDENHEIM!!!!!!"But now....watching that video, I feel 2 things:1) betrayed by my vision of what my late teens were going to be like...because none of that ever happened...ever never...2) Really grossed out by Tim Cappello.  I mean, I suppose there's a difference strictly speaking between Tim Cappello and Epic Sax guy...but that difference is mostly lost on me.  And this doesn't help:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzXuuxnp08o

[piranesi]

Guys, this is actually a pretty serious request.  We need to do something about the old lady who played the evil witch in PUMPKINHEAD.

A little background:
She was so cool looking and so totally unmoved and pitiless.  I haven't watched any of these movies after the first, but I'd love to know more on her backstory.  How did she become so completely in league with evil?  Was she Faustian hillbilly seeking power and knowledge and growing in her disdain of mankind the more she learned?  Was she singled out during her youth and ostracized or persecuted and so turned to the darkness out of spite?  Did she suffer some great tragedy that made her give up on her humanity?  She looks to be possibly well over a hundred years old, sustained enough in life to fulfill her role as an emissary of the devil.  Is that it?  Did she discover the secret to immortality?  Does she merely fear death, or is she afraid of what will happen after?  Is she attempting to put off her own damnation by feeding souls into hell?

She's clearly the best character in the movie, and could easily have been one of the best in horror if they had let the sequels be prequels and followed her path.  I mean...just feast your eyes on this magnificent old lady and her Lance Henriksen demon baby:

 

But what bugs me is that the original actress, Florence Schauffler is really hard to track down.  She has a bunch of credits, but they are all from 1983 to 1994, which indicates that she was yet another amazing PERSON WHO WAS NEVER NOT OLD in the annals of film and t.v.  

But despite appearing as "old lady" "mean nun" or "gossipy neighbor" in everything from WHO'S THE BOSS and NEWHART, to ST. ELSEWHERE and HILL STREET BLUES, the only non-PUMPKINHEAD picture I could find of her is from her role as Tom Hank's mean boss (another mean nun) in BACHELOR PARTY:

 

"Earn this, Tom Hanks...EARN IT!..Earn Tawny Kitaen's junk!"
 

 

Well...but then there is this, which is concerning:  She appears on a website called "Wise Women Circles" which describes itself like this:

 

Wise Women Circles has one mission, to expand access to wisdom across individuals, communities and borders. We are founded on the belief that in every community, within every individual, there is an abundance of wisdom to be discovered. Through efforts like The Song Within: Sedona, our first film, we move forward in bringing our mission into reality. Plans to film in other communities are underway.

So, this movie they made THE SONG WITHIN: SEDONA...she's in this, and it was made recently...so she's still alive.  Which is crazy because PUMPKINHEAD was 25 years ago...and she's still alive...and I think she may be in a cult.  She hasn't acted since 1994.  No one has seen or heard from her (at least no one on the PUMKINHEAD WIKI).  There's a bio of her on the weird circle of wisdom website:
 

Florence's early training includes the Erskine School in Boston and summer stock at North Shore Players in Marblehead, Mass. Her pursuit of theatre arts was deflected by World War II and she spent those years in Washington D.C. working for Military Intelligence. In the late 1940's she worked in New York City for a production company, Theatre Inc., and for Master Stage Designer, Jo Mielziner. Then in her late fifties, after marriage and raising a family, Florence moved to Los Angeles where she had a successful career as a character actress on stage and in film and television for 15 years. P.O. Box 457, Clarkdale AZ 86324

Yeah...see...she "had" a family..she "had" a career on stage and film. But now she "has" a PO box in Clarksdale, and a circle of sisters...which I'm pretty sure is a front for a sketchy spiritual organization.  This is the last known photo of her:

 

She is clearly under duress and is being forced to recite something against her will.  I don't know if this falls under the charter and mission of this thread but, guys...

 

I think we need rescue the old lady from PUMPKINHEAD from the cult that's holding her hostage.

[Brian Fowler]

For sime reason, Sedona is a magnet for new age crap. It's amazing how many segments of Penn & Teller Bullshit episides were in Sedona.

[Reed]

B list actresses/actors that horror fans would risk their lives to rescue from a scary, dangerous cult:

 

 

Heather Graham

Danielle Harris

Bruce Campbell (although I like to think he could escape all by himself)

Linda Hamilton

Alyssa Milano

Carl Weathers

Jennifer Love Hewitt

 

"The Old Lady from PumpkinHead" ain't on there, bro.

[jaedmc]

For those interested here's some bits about Rob Zombie's lighting and his use of the color red in Lords of Salem: http://jaekrenfrow.blogspot.com/2013/10/lights-and-color-red-in-lords-of-salem.html

 

ONWARD HO!

 

DAY 3 OF 31: SINISTER (Derrickson, 2012)

 

Alfred Hitchcock said that "There is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it."  And Sinister illustrates both incredibly well. The best moments of the film are in the waiting for something fucking horrible to happen. When those bits do happen they're big and clunky jumps, that don't really succeed in scaring. There's one moment where Ethan Hawke walks down an empty hallway towards the camera. He turns to the die and it's revealed that there's a creepy girl in the space he had just walked through. That's good enough, but they decide to cut to a close up of her face immediately in an effort to jar the audience, but what it does is give them a reason to not be scared. She's kind of cute, really. Maybe the cutest dead and rotting little girl in the history of dead and rotting little girls. Horror movies are an exercise in restraint, and the makers of this film just can't hang on enough to make it a wholly unsettling experience. For everyone of those goofy jump scares you let the foot off the gas and make the viewer start from zero in building the tension. It's a forest for the trees situation. Explicit jump scares remove your imagination, the driving force behind your fears, from the equation. Then you're on your way to reconciliation, "Oh it's okay, it's just a cute dead girl." Maybe the best example of how to give tension with a bang that leaves you tense comes from the first scene of the movie. The 8mm film of the family hanging by the tree. We anticipate the horror, it slooooowly comes, and in the end we're left going "whaaaaaa the fuck is going on, here?" 

 

It's a shame because it's a fun story and man oh man can they build the tension. Ethan Hawke is a huge part of the success, conveying fear that we co-opt as our own. Maybe my favorite parts of the movie is just watching him watch 8 mm movies. The way he engages it mirrors how we engage him.

 

I'd still recommend it though. The payoffs are disappointing, but it's a decent story, and, like I said, those moments before the scares are really really fucking good.

 

More coming later.

[JRGoldman]

So last night I found Monster Squad and of course sat down to watch it. I loved it as a kid, and probably haven't seen it in fifteen years. While I felt some parts dragged a bit, I was surprised with how modern mist of the dialogue and jokes felt. Sure, things like Frankenstien saying bogus are pretty inherently 80s, but some of the asides and meta comments could be placed right in a Joss Whedon project and would not be amiss. I did find myself comparing it unfavorably to Lost Boys, which I was surprised by because I think if you had asked me before I would have said Monster Squad had the fonder place in my heart.

[Curt McGirt]

I really don't want to influence piranisi anymore. Really. But this is the '80s classic bad horror theme:

 

 

I got to see The Thing (1982) at the theater last night. I wanted it to just be me alone in the place with the air conditioner turned up full blast. Sparce enough turnout, but not the vibe I wanted. Still, those goddamn effects made me want to cheer. Me and my friend also saw an eyeball in one of the creatures that neither of us had seen before, and we've both watched it a million times. It's the little things...

[jaedmc]

DAY 4 of 31: DEEP RED (Argento, 1975)

I'm not an Argento pro, I've seen a couple of his other films, and I'm trying to remedy that this year. I don't know why I selected this one, it was probably the familiarity of David Hemmings, but I did enjoy it. I'd read on the wiki page that Argento tried to make the murders situations that the audience could relate to. Not everyone knows what it's like to be shot by a gun, but everyone knows what it's like to touch really hot water. The most gruesome maybe be the teeth hitting sharp edges. American History X's curb stomp ain't got shit on this scene. The tense pieces are broken up with general murder mystery sleuthing and bizarre flourishes of physical comedy. THRILL TO DAVID HEMMINGS IN A TINY ITALIAN CAR~! In this case the comedy makes things even more disorienting. Argento isn't the most handy when it comes to story or dialogue, but his visuals are ones that will stick with you forever. The closet bit in this will be apart of your nightmares for sure. Good times.

 

DAY 5 of 31 THE HORROR OF DRACULA (Fisher, 1958)

Another one of my gaps is Hammer Horror. Peter Cushing is a beast with his hand gestures and piercing eyes. Check it when he cuts in front of the Doctor to inspect Lucy's body. After he covers her up, the Doctor goes to speak and Cushing does this hand gesture to the doctor's stomach that says, "bacdafucup I got this." Christopher Lee's Dracula doesn't have the mystical air that you'd expect. When he makes his first entrance down the stairs it's almost like a playful skip. Hey, I'm just a guy, with a cape. He's not a smooth criminal like Bela Lugosi. What he does bring to the role is an animalistic ferocity., with his bared teeth and crazy eyes. It's truly one of the most frightening faces in film. Just rabid madness that looks like he will eat you alive for reals. The final confrontation is really fun and the fucking running leap off the table is so damn fun to watch.

 

I love the sets. The weird curvy pillars. The whole gothic horror deal is incredibly appealing to me and engages my cerebral cortex. The foreign European landscapes, the mysticism and superstitions. Love it.

[EVA]

Is this an okay place to talk about ROOM 237, that documentary about THE SHINING? Because I just watched that, and it blew my mind. The part where they get into showing the movie playing forwards and backwards at the same time with one superimposed over the other is one of the most insane things I've ever seen. I would give anything to be able to see the whole film presented that way.

I mean, HOLY SHIT, the part where Jack's face is superimposed over the twins' murder and it looks like blood is coming out of his eyes??? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

Coincidence, I guess. Like the way Dark Side of the Moon works when played over THE WIZARD OF OZ. Sure. And I'm sure there are whole sections of the movie where the scenes don't line up as well. But this seems like more than a novelty to me. Some of the new shot compositions created are just too perfect and beautiful. It felt like I was watching something brand new.

Yeah, seeing this would be my Halloween wish come true.

[Curt McGirt]

Someone really needs to get Horror of Dracula as a Halloween Havoc present. Hammer films can be pretty drawing-room, old and musty feeling, but Peter and Chris (I am not making a Kiss joke) really blast all the cobwebs off in that one. The drawing-room feeling is part of the appeal but they liven it up so much. Jae, you should watch Curse of the Werewolf next since you're delving into Hammer. 

 

And on the topic of Argento, Inferno. EVERYONE should watch Inferno this year if you haven't already. That or Tenebrae.

[Reed]

Is this an okay place to talk about ROOM 237, that documentary about THE SHINING? Because I just watched that, and it blew my mind. The part where they get into showing the movie playing forwards and backwards at the same time with one superimposed over the other is one of the most insane things I've ever seen. I would give anything to be able to see the whole film presented that way.I mean, HOLY SHIT, the part where Jack's face is superimposed over the twins' murder and it looks like blood is coming out of his eyes??? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

 

I know the "Kubrick faked the moon landing" theory is total BS, but I found it shockingly credible when it was explained here.

[jaedmc]

Someone really needs to get Horror of Dracula as a Halloween Havoc present. Hammer films can be pretty drawing-room, old and musty feeling, but Peter and Chris (I am not making a Kiss joke) really blast all the cobwebs off in that one. The drawing-room feeling is part of the appeal but they liven it up so much. Jae, you should watch Curse of the Werewolf next since you're delving into Hammer. 

 

And on the topic of Argento, Inferno. EVERYONE should watch Inferno this year if you haven't already. That or Tenebrae.

Inferno will be the next Argento I watch this month. As for Hammer, I've got Frankenstein on deck but you bet your fern I'm watching a The Mummy and the Werewolf this year too. FO SHO

 

As for Room 237, I feel like what's most important about that film isn't the outlandish conspiracy theories or whether or not Kubrick knew what he was doing. To me it's the power of images and sounds and how they communicate ideas to the viewer. Whether he intended it or not, that movie relayed a message to people in a a very intense way and this should make artists more aware of what they do with every frame. This doesn't mean one should belabor every shot, but artists should recognize the power they have to communicate with audiences intentionally and unintentionally and the responsibility - if there is one - that comes with that.