Category: Sunday Streaming

Thanks to our buddy JOHN SULLIVAN's recent IAHTKY everybody around the kindertrauma offices has come down with SPOOKIES fever (our offices consist of myself and five cats under my employ). Now that I think about, J.M. COZZOLI of ZOMBO's CLOSET revealed his soft spot for SPOOKIES in his IAHTKY too. Now it's time for everybody who hasn't seen it before to get a load of what all the fuss is about! I'm happy to tell you that some nice person uploaded the flick onto YouTube! The cool thing is that it's presented in one piece and it's lifted from what looks like a decent DVD! Because of all the sad licensing issues that have plagued this film since its inception, it is very possible that it will never make it to DVD. Sure you could buy an old used VHS if you wanted but I'm thinking the color and picture quality is better here! As always, it could vanish at any time so this is your big chance!

The first thing you will notice about SPOOKIES is that it makes no sense. The second thing you will notice is that you don't really care because it has a zillion monsters in it and the special effects are the kind of which your soul has been craving. The reason this movie is such a jumble is because it was made as something else entirely by two directors, lost its financing before completion and then scenes with little relation were filmed by a third director and used to patch up the holes! It sounds like a recipe for disaster and I suppose it is for fussbudgets who like their movies comprehensible. For those who prefer people who transform into giant spiders over coherence, this is a windfall!

Perhaps SPOOKIES' biggest drawback is that it lacks any humans you can relate to but it's a fair trade for "Duke" (NICK GIONTA), who by rights should go down in history as one of the biggest and most entertainingly annoying jerk characters in all of horror! (I think his only real competition would be Wildman from FINAL EXAM or Dr. Crews from FRIDAY 7 or maybe the decapitated head of Kristen's mom from ELM STREET 3 or any of those greedy guys that insist on going forward with a community event even though it's a bad idea because of a hungry monster being in the vicinity.) Anyway, you get a witch too and the witch is cool. Plus farting zombies and a fantastic score that is pure unadulterated 80s pleasure. Watch SPOOKIES below!

I've got a good one for you today but I'll warn you in advance that it may require some patience on account of it's chopped into a dozen or so 10 –minute increments on YouTube and the subtitles are on the wonky side. VENENO PARA LAS HADAS (POISON FOR THE FAIRIES) is a 1984 film from Mexico written and directed by CARLOS ENRIQUE TABOADA. It's about the relationship between two outcast ten-year-old girls one of which fancies herself a witch.

Young Veronica (ANA PATRICIA ROJO) is a troubled girl whose main source of entertainment is listening to creepy stories about witches told by her creepy grandmother's equally creepy caretaker. The tales mesmerize her and as someone who feels powerless in her own life, she is intrigued by the dominance and command the witches display. A new girl arrives at her school named Flavia (ELSA MARIA) who enjoys a much more comfortable living situation, yet shares in Veronica's sense of not fitting in. A friendship quickly ignites and it's a fascinating one. These characters are mere kids but Veronica's manipulations to achieve dominance and subjugate her playmate might remind you of every horrible adult you ever met. What could have been a mutually beneficial friendship between the two turns into a near master and servant situation as Veronica convinces Flavia that every tragedy that occurs is the result of her all-powerful black magic. Never satiated, Veronica demands more and more from Flavia until she makes the world's dumbest mistake and requests Flavia's beloved puppy and that's when shit gets real.

Obviously I'm going to love this movie. It's about witches and creepy kids and it's kind of like a cross between HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994) and THE BAD SEED (1956) (or THE OTHER (1972)?) with a smidge of a preteen BAD INFLUENCE (1990) thrown in. Also, when I was a youngin' I was semi obsessed with the book THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT by BRIAN COFFEY (who turned out to be DEAN KOONTZ) and the relationship in this film reminded me an awful lot of the one in that. There's a kind a yin yang thing going on and I found myself bouncing back and forth between which character (the nice one or the not so nice one) I identified with more. Anyway, if I didn't have you at the word "witch" maybe you should just go about your day concerning yourself with something else. I'm just sitting here glad to know that no matter how long I dig into this genre I can still find something I didn't know I needed to see. The First Youtube segment is below and I'll put the others in order in the comment section. If the subtitles don't work for you, just click on the "CC" button!

I say Halloween month is a great time to watch anthology horror movies. They are like visual trick-or-treat bags filled with eye candy ranging from "Delicious!" to "Are you kidding me?" 1983's NIGHTMARES is a personal favorite that should be shoved in your face more often. Read our old-timey take HERE and watch the Momma rat goodness below…

It's finally October so let's not waste any time getting into the Halloween spirit. What better way to do so than by watching the Halloween-set GHOSTWATCH? I apologize to our readers in the UK who might find this selection to be too obvious but here in the States, this startlingly effective, not to mention ahead of its time, production is not nearly as notorious as it should be! For my money, it's one of the best ghost tales ever told! You can read our review from back in the day HERE and a traumafession HERE but I wouldn't advise it until you've checked out this landmark spookfest in three parts below!

Today is so beautiful that it deserves a beautiful movie. How about the criminally underrated heaping pile of gorgeousness known as RAZORBACK? This wonderful slab of cinema cake is directed by RUSSELL MULCAHY which means it looks like a DURAN DURAN video except instead of SIMON LeBON and NICK RHODES you get GREGORY HARRISON and a giant killer pig! Read my full blown review HERE and watch the incredibleness unfold below! Your eyes and ears (what an excellent score!) will thank you!