Tag Archives: movies

October 17, 2020 · 12:01 am

31 Days of Halloween (2020): The Best Scenes in Horror Movie History, Part I

Today, I want to share with you some of my favorite horror movie scenes. I don’t know about you, but a good horror scene makes me positively giddy. Like, laugh out loud, smile like a madman, giddy. Am I the only one? No? Yes? Anyway, here we go. Let me know your favorites in the comments.

Oh, and P.S., in the tradition of all great horror, this post will have a sequel. Come back tomorrow for Part II, where I reveal my favorite horror scene of all time.

Suspiria — A Beautiful Death

From the finest Italian horror movie ever made comes this gem. Occurring about five minutes into the film, it sets the scene for what’s coming.

Insidious — Tiptoe Through the Tulips

This scene is everything that quiet horror should be. An ordinary day, a record player (always creepy), no reason to think anything is going to happen. But if you are watching, you’ll spy something out of place early on in the scene. I love this scene, and I get chills every time I watch it.

The Shining — Come Play With Us

This one is almost cheating, but man is it good.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night — The Record Scene

Another scene involving a record player, but very different. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is one of the most visually stunning horror films ever shot, and this scene might be its most beautiful.

Hellraiser — Demons to Some, Angels to Others

The best scene in one of the best horror movies ever made, here we meet the Cenobites in all their glory. I’ll always believe that this scene and our desire to see more, learn more, and know more about the Cenobites spawned the countless Hellraiser sequels. After all, they have such sights to show us.

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October 8, 2020 · 12:01 am

31 Days of Halloween (2020): Joe Bob Briggs and the Last Drive-In

If you love horror and you came of age in the 90s, there’s little doubt that you felt the influence of TNT’s Monstervision. It was a different time back then. If you wanted to watch a movie, you had to go to Blockbuster, and heaven forbid if you were late returning the VHS tape or if you didn’t rewind it. The selection was small. You couldn’t watch anything you wanted at any time. And if you had a question about a movie, good luck getting it answered. I know, the dark ages.

Monstervision was a revelation. Here was a show often highlighting classic B-horror movies we’d never even heard of, much less seen. And to top it off, we had Joe Bob Briggs who would appear during breaks in the middle of the movie to explain what was going on and maybe share some trivia. I can honestly say that my love of “bad” horror began with Monstervision and never let up.

With the end of the 90s came the end of Monstervision, but people didn’t forget. And when Shudder announced a Joe Bob Briggs horror marathon called the Last Drive-in, I am sure even they were surprised at the response. What was supposed to be a special became a series, with Season 3 due to premier next year. But for those of you who somehow missed out on this cultural phenomenon, what better time to catch up?

The films run the gamut from the almost unwatchable but bizarrely classic Bloodsucking Freaks to the new-classic A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. And all of them come with Joe Bob’s unique blend of comedy, criticism, and trivia.

Whether you’ve never heard of Joe Bob or you’ve seen everything he’s done, this show alone is reason enough to subscribe to Shudder. Brett says check it out.

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June 16, 2019 · 8:41 pm

Under the Shadow

I’ve seen a lot of horror movies over the years, and the lesson I’ve learned is that if your kids or your spouse tell you there’s an evil spirit haunting the house, believe it. Under the Shadow is yet another example of that principle in action.

Shideh is a mother in the war-torn Tehran of the 1980s. Not only are the Iraqis threatening to destroy the city with Scud missiles, the Revolutionary Guard is everywhere, enforcing the strictest version of Islam imaginable. That fact has cost Shideh her chance at becoming a doctor, and when her husband is drafted to the front lines of the ongoing war, she is left broken-hearted and alone to protect their daughter. Every night, the threat of death by missile strike hangs in the air. When supernatural beings begin to threaten her sanity and her daughter’s safety, Shideh reaches her breaking point.

The best horror tells a story beyond the surface scares, and there’s no other genre more readily suited to addressing society’s problems and injustices. Iran, a modern state ruled by unpopular religious zealots, presents a deep well from which to draw. One of the best horror movies in recent memory, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, takes place in the same setting.

But while Iran adds color to that unique vampire flick, it is a very real character in Under the Shadow. The tension is palpable from the first moment, and you can feel the stress and strain as Shideh sees her dreams vanish because of her political opposition to the revolution, as her husband is forced to leave her to go to the front, as her daughter begins to see things in the night. The scariest scenes in this movie are not supernatural; they are scenes of war engulfing a city already under the thumb of tyrants.

Under the Shadow is, in some ways, a fairly standard haunting flick. It’s the setting that elevates it and makes the film well worth watching for anyone who likes their horror with depth.

3.5 Stars

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April 9, 2013 · 9:00 am

Movie Remakes and the Horror Genre

When it comes to movie remakes, no genre is immune. When Casablanca, arguably the greatest movie ever (I prefer The Godfather) gets remade, you know that anything goes in Hollywood. But when it comes to remakes, there’s the horror genre and there’s everybody else. When it comes to our genre, nothing seems to be sacred.

Do I need to list them to prove my point? Let’s put aside remakes that make sense. By the time The Mummy came along, it had been 67 years since the original first took the silver screen. And the 1999 version was demonstrably different than the original. It was a film for a different era and a different group of people. Same thing with new takes on Dracula or the werewolf. But most remakes? Not so much.

Take Psycho. Did the world need a remake–and a shot for shot one at that–of one of the greatest horror films, nay, the greatest films, of all time? Does anyone hold out hope that the planned Susperia remake–reportedly shelved–will even approach the original? What about The Hills Have Eyes? Last House on the Left? Friday the 13th? Nightmare on Elm Street? Remakes, re-imaginings, reboots. They are all the rage, and most people hate them. Which brings me to Evil Dead and the reason for this post.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Evil Dead has been remade, complete with the endorsement and participation of Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi. I haven’t seen it, but initial reports are not promising. But I will go see it, and that’s the rub.

Movie studios are like any business. They want to make money, and they want to stay in business. And it’s much easier to sell a known quantity than it is a new invention. The name Evil Dead is worth untold millions. If the same film had a different name, it might not even make it into the theaters. We, the buying public, fall right into their trap. We go and spend our money on movies that too often disappoint us. We willingly expose yourself to movies that sully a part of our childhood–because no matter how much you try, you can’t forget that awful Nicholas Cage version of Wicker Man, any more than you can forget that The Matrix has two sequels  So the cycle repeats itself, and worthy movies are pushed out to make room for sequels that provide a guaranteed return.

But of course, I am as much to blame as anyone. I’ll be seeing the new Evil Dead soon. Afterwards, I’ll post a review here, one that I hope involves me eating my words. But I doubt it, and I curse my own contribution to a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Interested to hear your comments and solutions, if you have them…

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December 10, 2012 · 9:27 pm

Movie Review–Pontypool

Watched a neat little horror movie on Netflix recently called Pontypool. The movie tells the story of the eponymous town of Pontypool  and a bizarre virus that is spreading through the community, causing widespread chaos and rioting. But this is not your typical zombie (infected) flick. The vast majority of the story is told from a small, isolated radio station where the station’s manager, production assistant, and star D.J. are hold up, describing to the listeners what they are hearing from reporters in the field. Adding to the interesting take (spoilers ahead), the virus is transmitted by words rather than microbes, a nice twist on the notion that words can induce action in the people who hear them. Good movie. I recommend it. 

4 Stars

Bonus: The first lines may be the best part of the movie. I reproduce them here.

Grant Mazzy: Mrs. French’s cat is missing. The signs are posted all over town. “Have you seen Honey?” We’ve all seen the posters, but nobody has seen Honey the cat. Nobody. Until last Thursday morning, when Miss Colette Piscine swerved her car to miss Honey the cat as she drove across a bridge. Well this bridge, now slightly damaged, is a bit of a local treasure and even has its own fancy name; Pont de Flaque. Now Collette, that sounds like Culotte. That’s Panty in French. And Piscine means Pool. Panty pool. Flaque also means pool in French, so Colete Piscine, in French Panty Pool, drives over the Pont de Flaque, the Pont de Pool if you will, to avoid hitting Mrs. French’s cat that has been missing in Pontypool. Pontypool. Pontypool. Panty pool. Pont de Flaque. What does it mean? Well, Norman Mailer, he had an interesting theory that he used to explain the strange coincidences in the aftermath of the JFK assasination. In the wake of huge events, after them and before them, physical details they spasm for a moment; they sort of unlock and when they come back into focus they suddenly coincide in a weird way. Street names and birthdates and middle names, all kind of superfluous things appear related to each other. It’s a ripple effect. So, what does it mean? Well… it means something’s going to happen. Something big. But then, something’s always about to happen.

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