9/11 #5 Bride of Frankenstein

The crowning achievement of MGM's original monster movie series is as hilarious as it is innovative. Obviously not really scary by today's standards, this flick is still super fun to watch and, at only 75 min, an easy pill to swallow. Emily didn't quite make it through, but it's probably just because she was sleepy from her first long day at the new job, not having anything to do with entertainment made for audiences of the 1930s. You have to give it up to a flick that has a tiny horny king, the monster smoking, and the hissing bride's rejection all in an hour's time. Love it.

9/10 #4 IT (2017)

Went to our first movie in St. Paul yesterday. Cool little theater on Grand Ave.

Now, I really think this flick is a good Stephen King adaptation. Not quite on par with the first episodes of Mr. Mercedes, but a lot better than the misguided Dark Tower. The casting is stellar, the scares are right, the changes from the source material have thought behind them.

Even the time shift. But that's kind of what I want to talk about. This flick is good and you should see it if you haven't (most people had, it had a stellar opening weekend). The thing I want to talk about is the strange cultural awareness of Pennywise the clown. In the original book and the miniseries (which still holds up too, due largely to IT'S casting and execution), Pennywise was a clown because it was his ruse to lure children into his grasp. Now, there's something weird that has happened since then. As far as I know, my generation may have been the first to openly find clowns terrifying. Sure, maybe some kids didn't like them at the circus before this, but there was a shift in the attitude towards clowns that happened in the 80s, and Pennywise was a big part of it. Suddenly they were generally seen as unsavory. Creepy even. So, it's weird to see the evolution of that. Tim Curry's (and King's) Pennywise was charming before he was frightening. He really was kind of a clown with a monster underneath. Which caused us all to rethink clowns' purpose and motivations in general. But the book (and original movie) were set in the late 50s, when kids were still kind of drawn to clowns. It's how Pennywise lured Georgie close enough to rip his arm off.

So, my question is, now that IT is set to start int he 80s, when this shift was happening (because of Pennywise, Gacy, and, maybe, Bozo), why does IT even bother with the clown thing? The answer the new movie gives us: Because he's just straight up scary.

Now, that's a tall order. That means Pennywise is a monster from the get-go. Georgie is just kind of an idiot who wants his boat back bad enough to take it from a monster in a drain. It lets the air out of this scene, but also creates a challenge for the rest of the flick. It makes it so Pennywise has to go UP from being a terrifying monster. Fortunately, this movie handles it well. Sarsgaard's Pennywise is crazy and, with more than a little help from the effects team, they do accomplish the task of making him 'everything we are afraid of'. So, Bravo, IT. You pulled it off.

My hope is that the sequel will back off the effects and let the traumas inflicted by Pennywise fuel the terror of the Losers Club as adults. Maybe Sarsgaard will have a little more room to move in the next chapter. Because it's either that or try and up the bar on the CG fueled scares even more, which may be pretty difficult. This first flick used the effects well, but there comes a moment when the suspension of disbelief snaps and computer images cease to be real enough to inspire terror. Whatever the outcome, I'm happy to see this material handled with such care and eager to see where they go from here.

9/8 #3 Creepshow

George Romero joined the great potential Zombie hoard this year, but his flicks live on. This Romero/Stephen King collaboration continues my focus on 80s gore. It was made the year I was born, and I still love the way the creatures and gore look. The vignette style allows for minimum plot and maximum Savini effects, which is always a plus. There's no waiting 2 hours for a stomach to be ripped open like in Dawn of the Dead. Some of the King dialogue is a little lame (as is usually the case with his film adaptations), but the stellar cast (which includes a young Ed Harris, Ted Danson, and King himself) handles the fun with gusto and King and Romero more than make up for the shortcomings with style and love of the genre. This movie boasts 'you'll never have so much fun being scared'. True that.

9/7 #2 Hellraiser

Emily liked the gory parts and the Cenobite with the open neck. I liked how all of the sound seemed like it was looped. And how monster Frank and live action Frank were two totally different people. I didn't know Clive Barker actually directed this first Hellraiser flick. It's pretty good if you don't care about character or rules in your horror and you just want weird violent sex and wet, slimy, hook-pierced flesh.

9/4 #1 Evil Dead 2

Off to a bit of a slow start this year on account of the fact that we moved across the country. But amidst boxes and clutter, we watched this horror classic to start things off.  Dead By Dawn still holds up in entertainment and creativity, dwarfing so many of the modem tight-lipped, serious horror movies. I'd rather spend 90 minutes rewatching this flick than doing just about anything.

Revival! 2017!

Alright folks. After 2 years of reestablishing myself in the world, it's time to sit in front of a screen looking at the darker sides of the human psyche again. This time I'll be taking along a horror movie virgin, and our location will be up in the great white north... all the way in... Minnesota!

It almost seems strange to return to this weird ritual, watching all of these horror movies. I spent so much of my youth employed in video stores and movie theaters, working on movie sets, and generally being obsessed with the art form, and then I got to a point where I kind of felt finished. I feel, generally, like the world has moved beyond the point where film is a relevant art form, and I don't watch a lot of movies or television anymore. That being said, I am still profoundly interested in horror, and in the idea of fear in general. I like horror movies, and the psychological and philosophical avenues they explore, because they remind me of the real challenges we face out there in the dark. While most of us spend our days worrying about money or work, sometimes we forget that what really scares us is the unknown, life and death, darkness. It just returns my mind to a more realistic way of looking at reality, if that makes any sense. Somehow, the monsters and demons of our dreams helps me to remember what is important about life.

Last year I was in Colorado for Halloween, and didn't have access to much in the way of dvds or even a tv, my priorities were more along the lines of making sure I didn't end up homeless. The year before that I was in the hospital during the holidays. I was kind of a mess. But this year, we're full steam ahead, ready to go, and two years behind on all the latest fright in the world. So if you have suggestions, let me hear them. Of course, we'll be rolling on a lot of the classics, because Emily hasn't seen some of them. I know Evil Dead II and Bride of Frankenstein will be in the first week. So, let's make this mad dash toward All Hallows Eve, and have a great one filled with new fun, new experiences, and new scares!

Final List 2014

Here it is, the list of flicks watched in 2014 as part of my first 90 Days of Horror Movies!

1. Stand by Me (8/1)

2. The Lost Boys (8/1)

3. Sharknado (8/3)
4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (8/3)
5. Argento's Dracula (8/3)
6. The Worst Witch (8/4)
7. Children of the Corn (8/5)
8. House on Haunted Hill (8/7)
9. The Blair Witch Project (8/8)
10. House of the Devil (8/9)
11. Fright Night (8/10)
12. Creepshow 2 (8/14)

13. Under the Done Season 2 (ongoing)

14. Halloweentown (8/15)

15. The Dark Half (8/15)

16. House (8/16)

17. The Hole (8/16)
18. Scream (8/17)
19. Scream 2 (8/18)
20. Haunter (8/18)

21. Children of the Corn II (8/19)

22. Scream 3 (8/19)

23. Scream 4 (8/19)

24. Scary Movie (8/20)
25. Halloween (8/22)
26. Halloween II (8/22)
27. Halloween III (8/23)
28. Halloween 4 (8/23)
29. Halloween 5 (8/26)
30. Salem's Lot (8/29)
31. Ghostbusters (8/30)
32. Scary Movie 2 (8/31)
33. Teen Wolf (9/3)
34. I Sell the Dead (9/4)
35. A Nightmare on Elm St. (9/5)
36. 28 Days Later (9/7)
37. Pet Semetery (9/8)
38. Dracula (1931) (9/10)
39. Pizza Girl Massacre (9/11)
40. Beetlejuice (9/11)
41. Simpsons Treehouse of Terror (13-15) (9/16)
42. Bubba Ho Tep (9/15)
43. Dawn of the Dead (1978) (9/17)
44. Frankenstein's Army (9/18)
45. A Nightmare on Elm St. 2: Freddy's Revenge (9/15)
46. Ghostbusters 2 (2/21)
47. The Lawnmower Man (9/21)
48. Nightmare on Elm St. 3 (9/22)
49. Nightmare on Elm St 4 (9/22)
50. VHS (9/24)
51. Nightmare on Elm St 5 (9/24)
52. Freddy's Dead (9/25)
53. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (9/27)

54. Simpsons Treehouse of Horror I & II, III, IV, V (9/27-10/7)

55. I Heart You (9/28)

56. Cabin Fever (9/29)

57. Shining (10/1)

58. The Purge (10/2)
59. Hocus Pocus (10/5)
60. Zombex (10/5)
61. Found (10/5)
62. Willow Creek (10/6)
63. American Horror Story: Coven Episodes 1&2 (10/7)
64. American Horror Story: Coven Episodes 3&4 (10/8)
65. Disney's The Dance of the Skeletons and (Fantasia Segment) Night on Bald Mountain (10/9)
66. Peanuts Halloween Special (10/9)
67. Garfield's Halloween Adventure (10/9)
68. Simpson's Treehouse of Horror VI, VII (10/9)
69. American Horror Story: Coven Episodes 5&6 (10/10)
70. American Horror Story: Coven Episodes 7&8 (10/10)

71. AHS: Coven Episodes 9&10 (10/10)

72. AHS: Coven Episodes 11-13 (10/11)

73. The Monster Squad (10/12)

74. Jason X (10/13)

75. Fat Albert's Halloween Special (10/13)

76. Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Sleepy Hollow segment) (10/14)
77. Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXV (10/19)
78. Evil Dead II (10/22)
79. Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet (10/22)
80. Cottage Country (10/22)
81. Mr. Boogedy  (10/23)
82. It (10/24)
83. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (10/26)
84. Trick 'R Treat (10/26)
85. World War Z (10/28)
86. An American Werewolf In London (10/28)
87. The Conjuring (10/28)
88. The Purge: Anarchy (10/30)
89. Sinister (10/30)
90. Bram Stoker's Dracula (10/31)
91. Interview with the Vampire (10/31)
92. Freddy Vs. Jason (10/31)