This review is part of the Final Girl Film Club, join the pow wow here: Final Girl Film Club
Author: unkle lancifer
Dead and Buried
How's this for an opening? A photographer walks a deserted beach taking National Geographic like shots of seagulls and the like. He comes across a beautiful girl who resembles a 1950's pin-up. She offers to pose for him and the photos he takes become more and more erotic. She suddenly exposes her breasts and propositions him. His excitement is short lived as he's surrounded by variously garbed townspeople who then begin taking pictures of him. He is then savagely beaten, wrapped to a post with fish netting, and doused with gasoline, all while the object of his lust smiles approvingly. "Welcome to Potter's Bluff," one of them says as another lights a match and sets him afire. The townspeople then circle around him and watch as he burns. If this mortifying display was not enough, the victim later appears as a happy member of the malicious mob. (more…)
An Open Letter to Mrs. Kobritz by Stevie Wayne
I'm sure I hardly need to introduce myself; I'm sorta a big deal. Unless you live under a rock or don't own a radio, you know who I am. If you have somehow not heard my awesome radio show (KAB rocks!) you've certainly seen me riding around Antonio Bay in my wicked convertible! Well, I'm not here to promote myself, but rather to expose a certain oldster who's gotten a free pass in this town as of late. I'm talking of Mrs. Kobritz and her dubious abilities as a babysitter. I've ignored missing under garments, the dilution of my liquor with tap water, and habitual tardiness, but it's high time Mrs. Kobritz be held accountable for her routinely irresponsible behavior. First of all, I realize that the other night there was an out of the ordinary occurrence that had many of our locals running about pell-mell begging for God to intervene. (I'm referring to the zombie-infested fog bank that engulfed the town.) But many of us were still able to do our jobs and even help others when the opportunity arose. I know I did everything I conceivably could to warn all my listeners of the impending danger (off the clock!). And let's face reality folks, the crew of the Elizabeth Dane were only going to kill six of us; it's not like the whole town was going down! (more…)
Stephen King's IT
The miniseries IT hits some pretty astounding highs and some equally astounding lows but, sown throughout is a performance that is destined for infamy. TIM CURRY's Pennywise the clown is nothing short of one of the most terrifying figures in horror. Like oh so many of the films that are mentioned on these pages, IT's origins began in the mind of STEPHEN KING. Director TOMMY LEE WALLACE (HALLOWEEN 3, FRIGHT NIGHT 2) certainly had a gargantuan task on his hands. Many of the Lovecraft-ian multidimensional ideas of the 1,000 plus page epic novel were simply unfilmable, and attempts to scale them down are understandably less than successful. This is why the well earned climax usually leaves the viewer a bit undernourished and dissatisfied. Rather than watch our seven heroes, the STAND BY ME-ish "losers" battle the nemesis we've grown to fear and love, they share fisticuffs with a spider-like reject from CLASH OF THE TITANS. What they are seeing in fact, is the being in the closest form that their collective minds are capable of producing. (A kid who does see IT's true form is instantly turned into a white haired JIM JARMUSCH clone). Unfortunately for the viewer it's not a fraction as frightening as the mocking, child-killing monster that skipped around the rest of the movie with an arsenal of blood filled balloons, stale jokes and an elaborate display of phantasmagorical fortune cookies. That said, audiences mostly share the same selective memory as the inhabitants of King's fictional town of Derry. Few can recall the giant spider, they're still quivering over the clown.
INDELIBLE SCENE(S):
Any scene with Pennywise is scary take your pick:
- In the sewer
- In the clotheslines
- In the shower
- In the sink
- In the road
- In the library
- In the moon? Yes, he even shows up in the moon. What is up with this guy?
Rob Zombie's Halloween
- "Love hurts" Zombie may never live it down but it's a counterintuitive choice that genuinely lingers
- Bully gets his comeuppance in the woods. If you say you didn't enjoy this scene as much as I did you are a liar
- Tiny Mike in giant mask
- Lil' Mike takes care of the nurse followed by an ear maddening siren blare
- Many people THINK about blowing their brains out when watching home movies. Mommy Moon doesn't just think about it, she DOES it!
Halloween Costume Quiz
Here's some groovy costume ideas. While you're perusing them, try to figure out which respective movies they appeared in! Warning: If you get all of them right it means you are insane! Answers can be found in the comments section. Good Luck, chuckleheads! (more…)
TRAUMAFESSION :: Reader Dawn on HALLOWEEN
The first time I saw HALLOWEEN it was on television and I was babysitting two kids at the time! Of course I immediately identified and was moved by Laurie's sense of responsibility towards the kids in her care. I've probably watched it once a year ever since. It wasn't until later in life that I realized that I related to her for another reason altogether. I grew up in a very abusive household. Running around the halls of a suburban house screaming for my life was like second nature to me. The scene that I love the most is when Laurie is in class and her teacher is talking about how fate is an unmovable object. Laurie has no idea what fate has in store for her that Halloween night; that she is going to have to transform herself to survive. She was and is a hero of mine because she grabbed that knitting needle, because she grabbed that clothes hanger, because she became someone she never knew she was.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Â
- Rikki stomps sand snake Karait
- Nag's late night siege of the bathroom
- Terror in the gazebo
- The Rickster uses Nagaina's egg as bait
Trilogy Of Terror
Â
-
INDELIBLE SCENE(S):
- Blade under bathroom door
- He can work doorknobs!
- Lil' Zuni doll cutting through suitcase
- BLACK squatting on the floor pounding her blade in anticipation of mom's arrival
- BLACK's new dental work
I Killed Three People! by Rynn Jacobs
Â