Have you noticed that over the past five years or so that Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas have just sorta blended together into one big glop? I mean, Halloween has become huge and poor Thanksgiving is just a stop-gap between the two big holidays and is sometimes just viewed as the night before Black Friday. At the store today I saw Christmas stockings hanging over Halloween costumes two aisles down from horn of plenty centerpieces. I think retailers should begin referring to this time of year (late Sept. through early Dec.) as Christhanksmaween. I was going to call it Hallowgivingmas but that's a little unwieldy, and a little too accurate.
So in that spirit I present this year's horror movie list, featuring films that focus on the holidays.
Halloween:
1. Dark Night Of The Scarecrow
This is a forgotten classic that relies on story, atmosphere and characters to succeed as opposed to the ultra-violence, buckets of blood approach. Quick version: little girl is friends with local retarded man, Bubba. Little girl is found bloodied, mangled and presumed dead. Local rednecks decide Bubba killed her, and set out to seek justice. Bubba hides as a scarecrow in a field but they find and kill him. Turns out the girl was attacked by a dog, she's alive and Bubba saved her. Rednecks cover up the crime, but as Halloween approaches, the scarecrow begins showing up in their fields and picking them off. Is someone out for revenge? Or is something even more sinister going on?
I can't recommend this enough. Charles Durning is in this as the main baddie, and he's fantastic as always. Dark Night Of The Scarecrow was originally released as a made for TV movie in 1981 and has obtained a semi-legendary status among horror fans since. It plays and feels like a full fledged theatrical movie, which is how it was filmed. That's why it still stands up. Quality stuff folks.
2. TrickRTreat
I know I raved about this last year, but it's good enough that I want to remind people to give it a look. An anthology horror film set on Halloween night in a small town that takes it all seriously. The stories in the film all intertwine in interesting ways. Minor characters in one story become the focus of another, and some events are directly affected by others in separate stories. And it's all overseen by a creepy little guy named Sam, the mascot of the movie and keeper of the rules of Halloween. TrickRTreat is tons of fun, with some genuine scares, creepy moments, sick humor and surprises to keep the viewer engaged all the way through.
Thanksgiving:
1.Thankskilling
Man, Thanksgiving horror movies are seriously messed up. You will know whether this movie is
for you or not by the next four word sentence. Talking killer turkey puppet. And that's all you really need to know. Lots of blood and some pretty disgusting slasher style kills...done by a turkey. Too bad a movie to be good, but too stupid not to like.
2. Blood Freak
And you thought Thankskilling was weird. Blood Freak is the story of a young man back in the early seventies who, through a strange series of events winds up working at a turkey farm where two scientists are working on making a bigger turkey for the Thanksgiving season, and also becomes addicted to drugs after being given a super joint by his Christian girlfriend's no good sister. Got that? Doesn't matter, the movie sucks anyway, but I sat through it so the least you could do is read all this.
Now, our recently drugged out friend is forced to taste the genetically engineered birds, and has horrible consequences...he turns into a giant monster turkey! Well, he has a turkey head anyway, but if the producers had more money he'd be a monster. Oh, and the story stops throughout the film to give the director a chance to appear and comment on the action. Anyhoo, it's kinda hard to score drugs when you have a giant turkey head, so the dude becomes a vampire-drinking the blood of other addicts.
Wow this is horrible. But if you like bad movies, or are in the mood for a pro Christian/Anti drug movie with a good amount of gore in it, this is for you. I told ya, Thanksgiving movies are messed up.
Christmas:
1.Christmas Evil (a.k.a. You Better Watch Out)
Okay, cheap exploitative title but this film is better than it sounds, or in fact has any right to be. But then, the same could be said for asparagus, so...
Here's the story of Harry, and he's got a problem dealing with Christmas. As a child he saw something disturbing on Christmas Eve and has had issues ever since. At first, it's small stuff but after a while Harry tries to be the real Santa. He spies on local children, making a list of naughty and nice kids, and delivering them presents accordingly. Well, long story short he has a mental breakdown and bad things happen (to naughty adults, not kids) and it all goes off the rails. A true cult classic, and the favorite Christmas movie of none other than John Waters.
By the way, this movie predates the truly exploitative Santa as slasher movie Silent Night Deadly Night by several years. So if it seems familiar, that's why.
Bonus: Season Of Belief (Tales From The Dark Side t.v. show)
I don't like most Christmas horror movies (a few, but we'll save them for later), but I wanted to share this episode with those who may not be familiar. I saw this as a kid and it scared the hell out of me. In a defensive move, my brain had changed the ending and name of the creature so I couldn't properly recall the experience. I found it on you tube recently and re-watched. Though I know the ending now, and am seeing it through the eyes of a veteran horror movie fan I still like it. Pretty predictable but still kinda cool.
The idea here is that it's Christmas Eve, and this particular family has decided there will be no t.v. for the kids, just a quiet evening. The kids ask for a story, but not a Santa one. So Dad gets the idea of telling them a scary story. On Christmas Eve. Oh, this can't end well. And it doesn't. That's all I'll say about it as any more would be a spoiler for anyone who looks it up. Maybe it's not quite as good as I think it is, but it should be a good watch. Oh, and it's the single greatest "Santa exists" propaganda piece I've ever seen.
So there you have it, the 2010 Halloween movie post, and on time to boot. To the best of my knowledge all of the above features are available on DVD, Netflix, or You Tube. So you should be able to seek out any titles that interest you. If nothing else, see the Scarecrow thing. It's really good.
I'll be back with more stuff.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Outsider
I am thirty-eight years old. I have never fit in. It doesn't matter the situation, whether it's at parties, in the workplace, church groups, extended family, whatever, I almost always feel like I'm outside looking in. Like I don't truly belong.
There's not any one reason I feel this way, if there was then it would create a pattern as to why I feel both distant and alienated. Sometimes I feel as though whatever I do it's not good enough. Sometimes I feel like I'm just not good enough as a person. Because of my inherent weirdness, I'm the kind of person who can be easy to criticize and pick apart. Ultimately I realize that other people's negative opinions don't really mean anything because I know who I am and what they are so I'm usually pretty good at letting insults, rude behavior and idiocy go. However, there's a (decent sized) part of me that is afraid they might be right.
I've learned to accept my different-ness and outsider status. I've even managed to embrace it, and use it as a source of pride in many ways and on many occasions.
But sometimes it still hurts.
To be fair, there are some situations in which I feel at my ease and a full part of things. Obviously at home it's good with my wife and kids, and with my immediate family. I tend to feel pretty good with any of the artistic projects I'm involved with (bands, performing arts and what not) but that's pretty much it.
I know, I know, everyone feels this way from time to time. But I feel like this most of the time. As a teenager, I always clung to the idea that these feelings would somehow all get better when I became an adult. Well, here I am. Is it better? Yeah, a little. But it never goes away.
Hey, all things considered I'm a lucky guy and have no reason to complain. I'm proud of who I am. In fact, there are a lot of times when I'm glad I don't fit in. I just sometimes wish that I could be a little bit more accepted for who I am. Well, maybe accepted is not the word...maybe I'd just like to be a little less misunderstood. And I wish it didn't bother me so damn much.
So the bottom line is that I am proud to be an individual, but I long for approval and, yes, acceptance from a society and people from which I have purposely distanced myself. Not a great place to be. I guess that's why I write. Songs, jokes, blogs, any writing or performing I've ever done has been an attempt to get that approval and bridge the gap. To make me feel like I'm better than me. Probably has something to do with my mother,
Anyway, sorry to put you all through reading that. Just some things I needed to get out and get sorted. Thanks for being my guinea pig/punching bag/shrink and for your patience with my strange ramblings. Movie post next time as promised.
There's not any one reason I feel this way, if there was then it would create a pattern as to why I feel both distant and alienated. Sometimes I feel as though whatever I do it's not good enough. Sometimes I feel like I'm just not good enough as a person. Because of my inherent weirdness, I'm the kind of person who can be easy to criticize and pick apart. Ultimately I realize that other people's negative opinions don't really mean anything because I know who I am and what they are so I'm usually pretty good at letting insults, rude behavior and idiocy go. However, there's a (decent sized) part of me that is afraid they might be right.
I've learned to accept my different-ness and outsider status. I've even managed to embrace it, and use it as a source of pride in many ways and on many occasions.
But sometimes it still hurts.
To be fair, there are some situations in which I feel at my ease and a full part of things. Obviously at home it's good with my wife and kids, and with my immediate family. I tend to feel pretty good with any of the artistic projects I'm involved with (bands, performing arts and what not) but that's pretty much it.
I know, I know, everyone feels this way from time to time. But I feel like this most of the time. As a teenager, I always clung to the idea that these feelings would somehow all get better when I became an adult. Well, here I am. Is it better? Yeah, a little. But it never goes away.
Hey, all things considered I'm a lucky guy and have no reason to complain. I'm proud of who I am. In fact, there are a lot of times when I'm glad I don't fit in. I just sometimes wish that I could be a little bit more accepted for who I am. Well, maybe accepted is not the word...maybe I'd just like to be a little less misunderstood. And I wish it didn't bother me so damn much.
So the bottom line is that I am proud to be an individual, but I long for approval and, yes, acceptance from a society and people from which I have purposely distanced myself. Not a great place to be. I guess that's why I write. Songs, jokes, blogs, any writing or performing I've ever done has been an attempt to get that approval and bridge the gap. To make me feel like I'm better than me. Probably has something to do with my mother,
Anyway, sorry to put you all through reading that. Just some things I needed to get out and get sorted. Thanks for being my guinea pig/punching bag/shrink and for your patience with my strange ramblings. Movie post next time as promised.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
I'm Back
Haven't posted here for a while now. That's mainly because I had too much going on. There have been some things I felt I shouldn't write about-and some others that I wasn't sure I wanted to, but it's time I put something up here. So this is another one of those random posts I do. Here we go.
*****
Can't believe I didn't review the Drive-By Truckers show here yet. For those who wondered, it was really good. Nice mix of songs, 26 of them to be exact, seven from the latest CD and one (possibly two) from the new CD coming next year. There were some nice surprises in the set, like "Road Cases", "72 (This Highway's Mean)", "The Deeper In" and "Love Like This". As with any show there were a few songs I would have liked to hear (doesn't seem right to see DBT and not hear "Sinkhole"), but when a band does that many songs and eight of them are the encore, well, you can't say you didn't get your money's worth.
My only small complaint is that the show slowed down a little too much in the middle (after a hyper-fast version of "Shut Up And Get On The Plane"), oh, and the opening songs could have been flip flopped. Otherwise a great show which is only as it should be.
*****
In other music news, my brother and I are getting closer to letting everyone hear the new band. Music and web stuff is coming soon, but I can reveal the name of the band. We are now called Two Hangmen. Right, because there are two of us.
Here's the concept. We are taking the type of material we've been writing for the past few years and stripping it down to its essence. The two of us. When we record we'll be handling all of the instruments; guitar, bass, percussion, vocals, all of it. As for playing the songs in a live setting, we'll be playing guitar and bass only. We may get a friend to sit in from time to time playing a snare drum behind us. That's right...one drum. And maybe a cymbal. See? Stripping it down.
The music we're making is quite definitely rock, but with an alt-country vibe to it that most people who have heard the songs really seem to like. So we still have some work to do in getting everything to work within this format, but we're excited about it. We won't keep y'all waiting too long. More soon.
*****
Got a nice bonus at work the other day. Came with a very positive review. Things have been a little stressed/nuts/tense around the ol' office lately, so it's nice to get a pat on the back and told how much you're appreciated from time to time. To me, that's more important than the actual bonus. But it was a really good bonus. The family and I are grateful.
*****
As far as the family goes, everyone is healthy and happy, thank God. Money has gotten a little tight here lately, which one would expect with three kids in diapers. We need to tighten the belt a bit for a while, but it could be much worse. Good timing on the bonus thing, huh?
*****
Okay, that's enough for now. It's show/auction week at work and it's one of the most taxing times of the year, so I'm pretty beat. I'll pick this up again this weekend (I hope) with the first of two or more Halloween movie blogs which I know you all look so forward to.
See ya then.
Oh, and happy birthday to Sammy Hagar. Have a shot for me, Sam.
*****
Can't believe I didn't review the Drive-By Truckers show here yet. For those who wondered, it was really good. Nice mix of songs, 26 of them to be exact, seven from the latest CD and one (possibly two) from the new CD coming next year. There were some nice surprises in the set, like "Road Cases", "72 (This Highway's Mean)", "The Deeper In" and "Love Like This". As with any show there were a few songs I would have liked to hear (doesn't seem right to see DBT and not hear "Sinkhole"), but when a band does that many songs and eight of them are the encore, well, you can't say you didn't get your money's worth.
My only small complaint is that the show slowed down a little too much in the middle (after a hyper-fast version of "Shut Up And Get On The Plane"), oh, and the opening songs could have been flip flopped. Otherwise a great show which is only as it should be.
*****
In other music news, my brother and I are getting closer to letting everyone hear the new band. Music and web stuff is coming soon, but I can reveal the name of the band. We are now called Two Hangmen. Right, because there are two of us.
Here's the concept. We are taking the type of material we've been writing for the past few years and stripping it down to its essence. The two of us. When we record we'll be handling all of the instruments; guitar, bass, percussion, vocals, all of it. As for playing the songs in a live setting, we'll be playing guitar and bass only. We may get a friend to sit in from time to time playing a snare drum behind us. That's right...one drum. And maybe a cymbal. See? Stripping it down.
The music we're making is quite definitely rock, but with an alt-country vibe to it that most people who have heard the songs really seem to like. So we still have some work to do in getting everything to work within this format, but we're excited about it. We won't keep y'all waiting too long. More soon.
*****
Got a nice bonus at work the other day. Came with a very positive review. Things have been a little stressed/nuts/tense around the ol' office lately, so it's nice to get a pat on the back and told how much you're appreciated from time to time. To me, that's more important than the actual bonus. But it was a really good bonus. The family and I are grateful.
*****
As far as the family goes, everyone is healthy and happy, thank God. Money has gotten a little tight here lately, which one would expect with three kids in diapers. We need to tighten the belt a bit for a while, but it could be much worse. Good timing on the bonus thing, huh?
*****
Okay, that's enough for now. It's show/auction week at work and it's one of the most taxing times of the year, so I'm pretty beat. I'll pick this up again this weekend (I hope) with the first of two or more Halloween movie blogs which I know you all look so forward to.
See ya then.
Oh, and happy birthday to Sammy Hagar. Have a shot for me, Sam.
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