31 Days of Halloween (October 1st through 31st)

[TomServofan]

October 20 - Exorcist II: The Heretic(1977)



John Boorman directed this? The guy from Deliverance, Point Blank and Excalibur? I don't believe it.

Did you know that there's a good locust and a bad locust. When a locust brush its wings together it's a bad looking and all the other locusts follow it and that is what creates a swarm that destroys everything. But when there's a good locust, then these things don't happen.

At the end of the movie there's two Reagans one good, another Evil and the Exorcist Richard Burton has to kill the bad one. Yea that's the movie. Nevermind that the first movie, there wasn't a good side and a bad side to Reagan, the Devil just took over her body.

Oh yea and also in this movie it's not The Devil but a "troubled wind spirit" that gets created when there's swarm of locust. (did the original Exorcist brought this back with him in the first movie since he went to Africa? possible we don't know)

The story is mainly about two persons, a woman psychologist(played by the nurse from Over the Cukoo's Nest) who doesn't believe in possession and Richard Burton who is a priest and represents the Church. There was such an interesting element there that could have been approached between the approach but it stays on surface. She doesn't believe in him and that's that until the end where she sees damages caused by the demon. Even the Africans/Locusts part could have been cool too but it's just a bunch of things that is not explored well.

Most of the sets are laughable, whatever the African country they are in looks pretty fake. The ending is so bad and over-the-top and pointless it's funny. Everything is devasted and it looks like a SNL sketch from the 70s.

Furthermore, the movie is NEVER scary. They go all around the World for nothing. The original was one room with a girl and a priest and it was scary as Hell.

But worst of all is that the woman psy and the priest Burton want to "cure" Reagan yet nothing is wrong with her! She is not damaged psychologically, she is happy, she doesn't have bad dreams. So why do they want to "cure" her? Just so they want to make a bad movie? Yes. It's their bullshit that eventually bring back the "demon" and it's not really a demon, it's just "Evil Reagan". lol

Exorcist II sucked ass i agree, i saw it when i was 6 on video and thought it was terrible and nowhere near as good as the original.

Skip this and see the REAL sequel Exorcist III.

October 1 - The Body Snatcher (1945)
October 2 - Isle of the Dead (1945)
October 3 - Dead Men Walk (1943)
October 4 - Cat People (1942)
October 5 - An American Werewolf in London (1981)
October 6 - Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
October 7 - The Old Dark House (1932)
October 8 - Silver Bullet (1985)
October 9 - Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
October 10 - Bedlam (1946)
October 11 - Scream and Scream Again (1970)
October 12 - Shin Godzilla (2016)
Son of Dracula (1943)
October 13 - Doctor X (1932)
October 14 - Son of Frankenstein (1939)
October 15 - Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Monster House (2006)
October 16 - The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The Innocents (1961)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
October 17 - The Invisible Ray (1936)
October 18 - The City of the Dead (1960)
October 19 - The Lost Boys (1987)
October 20 - Horror Express (1972)

This one was pretty good. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing sniping at each other on a train while an alien-possessed caveman runs around killing people, absorbing their memories, and making them zombies, all the while being followed by a mad Russian monk who thinks the alien is Satan. And then, just to add to the fun, there's Telly Savalas chewing the scenery to bits as a Cossack captain.

This movie is like someone took The Thing, White Zombie, The Omen, and Murder on the Orient Express, put them in a blender, and then removed most of their budgets.

October 21 - The Thing From Another World (1951)

Another one I can now remove from the "I always meant to see that" list. Great movie, more action-y than horror-y. I think Alien owes as much to this movie as the remake does.

Uh...John Carpenter's The Thing isn't really a remake of The Thing from Another World, they are 2 completely very different films! it's actually rather another adaptation of the 1938 novella by John W Campbell and a more true adaptation, the earlier film was a very loose adaptation.

[Siddon]

Exorcist II sucked ass i agree, i saw it when i was 6 on video and thought it was terrible and nowhere near as good as the original.

Skip this and see the REAL sequel Exorcist III.

31 Days 31 Monsters
October 23rd Exorcist III



A police lieutenant uncovers more than he bargained for as his investigation of a series of murders, which have all the hallmarks of the deceased 'Gemini' serial killer, lead him to question the patients of a psychiatric ward. Yeah I love this movie, George C Scott is such a wonderful misanthrope the conversations are great but then you mix that with some great horror scenes.

October 1st - Daimajin: Monster of Terror (1966) ****1/2 stars
October 2nd - Tarantula (1955) ***1/2 stars
October 3rd - The Living Skeleton (1968) ***
October 4th - Son of Frankenstein (1939) **
October 5th - Reptilicus (1961) **
October 6th - The Undying Monster (1942) *****
October 7th - Them!(1954) ***1/2
October 8th - Night of the Blood Beast (1958) **1/2
October 9th - Black Moon (1934) **
October 10th - Island of Doctor Moreau(1977) ****
October 11th - Phantom of 10,000 Leagues (1955) **
October 12th - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) ***1/2
October 13th - The H-Man (1958) ****
October 14th - The Fly (1958) *****
October 15th - Gamera (1965) ***
October 16th - Feast (2005) *
October 17th - Teeth (2007) ***1/2
October 18th - The Neon Demon (2016) ****
October 19th - The Shallows (2016) **1/2
October 20th - C.H.U.D(1984) ***3/4
October 21st - Q:The Winged Serpent (1982) ****
October 22nd - Little Shop of Horrors (1960) DUD
October 23rd - Exorcist III (1990) ****

[Siddon]

31 Days 31 Monsters
October 24th Invaders From Mars (1953)





Late one night, youngster David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is awakened by a loud thunderstorm. From his bedroom window, he sees a large flying saucer descend and disappear into the sandpit area behind his home. After rushing to tell his parents, his scientist father (Leif Erickson) goes to investigate David's claim. When his father returns much later in the morning, David notices an unusual red puncture along the hairline on the back of his father's neck; his father is now behaving in a cold and hostile manner.

Great visuals, not really any scares but this is also close to a "Thing" remake or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"

October 1st - Daimajin: Monster of Terror (1966) ****1/2 stars
October 2nd - Tarantula (1955) ***1/2 stars
October 3rd - The Living Skeleton (1968) ***
October 4th - Son of Frankenstein (1939) **
October 5th - Reptilicus (1961) **
October 6th - The Undying Monster (1942) *****
October 7th - Them!(1954) ***1/2
October 8th - Night of the Blood Beast (1958) **1/2
October 9th - Black Moon (1934) **
October 10th - Island of Doctor Moreau(1977) ****
October 11th - Phantom of 10,000 Leagues (1955) **
October 12th - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) ***1/2
October 13th - The H-Man (1958) ****
October 14th - The Fly (1958) *****
October 15th - Gamera (1965) ***
October 16th - Feast (2005) *
October 17th - Teeth (2007) ***1/2
October 18th - The Neon Demon (2016) ****
October 19th - The Shallows (2016) **1/2
October 20th - C.H.U.D(1984) ***3/4
October 21st - Q:The Winged Serpent (1982) ****
October 22nd - Little Shop of Horrors (1960) DUD
October 23rd - Exorcist III (1990) ****
October 24th - Invaders from Mars (1953) ***

[Da Boat]

Always meant to watch Exorcist 3, I guess I'll have to watch it for real now.

October 1 - The Body Snatcher (1945)
October 2 - Isle of the Dead (1945)
October 3 - Dead Men Walk (1943)
October 4 - Cat People (1942)
October 5 - An American Werewolf in London (1981)
October 6 - Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
October 7 - The Old Dark House (1932)
October 8 - Silver Bullet (1985)
October 9 - Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
October 10 - Bedlam (1946)
October 11 - Scream and Scream Again (1970)
October 12 - Shin Godzilla (2016)
Son of Dracula (1943)
October 13 - Doctor X (1932)
October 14 - Son of Frankenstein (1939)
October 15 - Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Monster House (2006)
October 16 - The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The Innocents (1961)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
October 17 - The Invisible Ray (1936)
October 18 - The City of the Dead (1960)
October 19 - The Lost Boys (1987)
October 20 - Horror Express (1972)
October 21 - The Thing From Another World (1951)
October 22 - The Oblong Box (1969)
October 23 - The Creeping Flesh (1973)
Ocotber 24 - The Gorgon (1964)
October 25 - The Brides of Dracula (1960)

The first and most overlooked sequel to Hammer's Dracula series...which is somewhat understandable, as Dracula isn't even in it. But even without Christopher Lee, this is a great one. Action-wise, story-wise, it's actually got a lot going on for it that the first one didn't. And the end always sticks with me as an originally and aesthetically powerful way to utilize the old vampire/cross staple.

One of the best Hammer vampire films, one of the best vampire films period.

[Jared]

October 1. The Crooked Man (2016)
October 2. Creature (1985)
October 3. Twins of Evil. (1971)
October 4. The Vampire Lovers (1970)
October 5. Lust for a Vampire (1971)
October 6. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)
October 7.
October 8. Corpse Bride (2005)
October 9. Blade II (2002)
October 10. Vampire Hunter D (1985)
October 11. The Wolfman (2010). Sorority Row (2009).
October 12. Nothing but the Night (1973)
October 13. It Came From Beneath the Sea. (1955)
October 14. Countess Dracula (1971). The Frighteners (1996).
October 15. The Devil's Tomb (2009).
October 16. Red Riding Hood (2011).
October 17. Fright Night (2011). Dracula (1979).
October 18. Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013).
October 19. The Batman vs. Dracula (2005).
October 20. Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).
October 21. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988).
October 22. War-Gods of the Deep (1965). Outland (1981).
October 23. House at the End of the Street (2012). Phantasm (1979).
October 24. Species (1995).

October 25. Species II (1998).



The first Species made 100 million on a 30 mil budget so a sequel was inevitable. A theatrical sequel, at that. In what is now an alternate history that out of Michael Erich Dyson's dreams, the first manned mission to Mars happens in 1998. It's implied that technology gleaned from the previous alien contact is secretly what led to the Mars mission being fast tracked. The first movie also said that the first alien signal included a formula for a highly efficient, clean burning fuel. While it isn't mentioned here, perhaps its implementation was a big boost for the space program.

But something comes back in a soil sample that infects the captain. Being a handsome, famous astronaut, he's soon following his instincts and banging ladies left and right so they can (literally) pop out his mutant offspring.

Meanwhile, under the supervision of Marg Helgenberger, the government has grown another Sil, this one named Eve. She's remarkably well behaved considering her life consists of living in a prison lab while various tests are run on her to see what her race is vulnerable to.

Preston Lennox (Michael Madsen) is brought back to lead the chase for infected astronaut. Once again, his character is all hype, bringing nothing to table that would actually seem to justify his rep or his million dollar tax-free salary. Maybe Pentagon pencil pushers just really liking saying, "Get me Preston Lennox!" It is a good name.

There's a tangible "Scene Missing" feel to this one. Late in the film, the ******* Colonel is flying around in a gunship while the heroes go to the alien nest. One might presume this is heading for a finale where they have to flee the place before he tries to blow it up with them inside...instead he just vanishes from the movie. The gore and sex content are amped up for this one, but the FX are more inconsistent. It really strains credibility that the facility holding Eve has such poor security despite no obvious shortage of funding or manpower. Likewise, the hunt for the infected spaceman at one point amounts to just Lennox and another astronaut chasing him around a supermarket. And when he is caught, the precautions taken around him are laughable, as if he's just some drunken sailor and not known to be superhuman killing machine. A climatic giant monster mash is both goofy looking and a showcase for some interesting designs.

If you enjoyed the first one (which I did, mostly) this delivers more B movie thrill with some A- production value. Given the themes and the Giger-designs and the shapeshifting oooze, it's fun to envision this series happening in the same universe as Alien, Predator, The Thing, even Creature.

October 25 - The Brides of Dracula (1960)

The first and most overlooked sequel to Hammer's Dracula series...which is somewhat understandable, as Dracula isn't even in it. But even without Christopher Lee, this is a great one. Action-wise, story-wise, it's actually got a lot going on for it that the first one didn't. And the end always sticks with me as an originally and aesthetically powerful way to utilize the old vampire/cross staple.

I was very annoyed by the misleading title. Not only does Dracula not appear, neither do any of his brides! I've read that the original title was to be The Disciples of Dracula, which at least could be justified. I quite like the scene where Peter Cushing has to MacGuyver a desperate remedy for a vampire bite.


What I remember about the Exorcist II is some ridiculous dream-viewing device in the 1970s. Also, a scene where Regan and somebody else are tempted to use the dark side to bring down an airliner. Because the first thing anyone wants to do with telekinetic power is crash planes for no reason.

[Sean Whitmore]

October 1 - The Body Snatcher (1945)
October 2 - Isle of the Dead (1945)
October 3 - Dead Men Walk (1943)
October 4 - Cat People (1942)
October 5 - An American Werewolf in London (1981)
October 6 - Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
October 7 - The Old Dark House (1932)
October 8 - Silver Bullet (1985)
October 9 - Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
October 10 - Bedlam (1946)
October 11 - Scream and Scream Again (1970)
October 12 - Shin Godzilla (2016)
Son of Dracula (1943)
October 13 - Doctor X (1932)
October 14 - Son of Frankenstein (1939)
October 15 - Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Monster House (2006)
October 16 - The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The Innocents (1961)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
October 17 - The Invisible Ray (1936)
October 18 - The City of the Dead (1960)
October 19 - The Lost Boys (1987)
October 20 - Horror Express (1972)
October 21 - The Thing From Another World (1951)
October 22 - The Oblong Box (1969)
October 23 - The Creeping Flesh (1973)
October 24 - The Gorgon (1964)
October 25 - The Brides of Dracula (1960)
October 26 - Scars of Dracula (1970)

Not the best of the Hammer Draculas, but not the worst. Though, it has perhaps the worst Dracula resurrection...and Dracula death. And bat.

Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, last seen (by me) in The Gorgon, is back again as the Renfield type, and was quite good.

[Da Boat]

October 25 - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1955)
TV movie CBS Climax!







A tv movie created in a classic closed studio. I love discovering these unknown new takes on old legends. From the Earth Stood Still's Michael Rennie has always had a great presence and a unusual look and he is great here. It's the kind of actors I always thought should have been a bigger star. You want a 1950s Doctor Strange, he should have been it.

I don't know about anybody else, but if I had been an actor, as far as monsters Jekyll and Hyde would have been the role I would dream playing. There's something about the duality of the same human. Of balancing the sinister side and the good side that must be a hoot playing. And the transformation....fogetabouit.

The limit of the tv studio format and the limit in time unfortunetely hurts this a lot though. Rennie is great but I wish this would have been a real big screen movie with a bigger budget, he would have made it a classic. The makeup also is not much, you can see Jekyll and Hyde are the same guy.

It starts with the death of Hyde cause he is a known murderer by then and one of Jekyll's friend shoots Hyde in Jekyll's laboratory. Then he starts to read his journal where Jekyll tells the whole story with him being Hyde and so forth. Kudos for them to have it this way. After Hyde's few misdeeds, Jekyll realises he's gone too far and stop the experiments, burns all his potions and formuals and so forth. Then he decides to repair all the bad things he did. Goes to a prostitute that Hyde terrorized, wanting to make amends to her, threating her well and so forth. But boom he changes into Hyde without the formula in front of her! She screams, Hyde flees the bar, the police is after him. But then there's no formula to change back cause Jekyll burned them. So Hyde is killed.

Ths movie is a short tight affair with his negatives and positives. But like I said Jekyll/Hyde is one of my favorite concepts and Rennie is Da man.

[Da Boat]

October 26 - Westworld(1973)



Around the time of the TV show release, I thought it would be a cool moment to review the original movie.

Two guys in the far future go on a resort that recreate three time periods in our history: The Far West, Ancient Rome and Medieval times. The two guys choose the Far West and go adventures while we see what happens to other vacationing people that go to their chosen sites. The two guys, there's one that's pretty timid and the other is James Brolin who's macho and is more willing to go get loose and have fun. So they are involved in shootings, saloon fights and prostitutes. But for whatever reasons, trouble seems to be following the timid one. Especially in the form of Yul Brynner. The guy kills Brynner multiple times but Brynner manages to be rebuild and placed back in the "game". Strangely though it is explained that the guns are real guns and bullets are real bullets but there's heat detectors in the guns where it cannot fire at a human cause humans' bodies are too hot. Couldn't they just have blanks?

Of course it's not a futuristic vacation movie and the scientist who made all of this mention to an employee that this tech is so sophisticated that even he cannot control it completely, now it's computers that are making these robots and they are not sure where this is going and he said something about "robot disease" lol. First problem when Brolin is bit by a fake snake. This wasn't supposed to happen. Then in the Medieval times, of the participants, a middle age fat guy is killing by a robot knight in a duel. Then everything goes nuts, many humans are slaughtered(why would the robots just have murder on their mind we do not know). So the scientist and his crew shut the whole thing down. All robots stop working(too late). But by shutting everything down, they are locked inside without air and all the scientists die. (shades of Cabin in the Woods)

Problem is Brolin and his friend had so much great times fighting and drinking and screwing all night that they are unaware of all this. So they wake up and starts walking around in the Far West streets and nobody is there. It is really a ghost town. With one exception....



He wants a rematch with the timid guy. Brolin is all "dammit, that guy won't stop, alright, let me have him this time". Cowboy robots kills Brolin dead cold. The other guy is shocked. Takes a horse and get the Hell out of here. Brynner follows him and he becomes relenthless machine that won't stop a la Terminator. The guy escapes West World go to the other Worlds in Ancient Rome, go inside the resort and discovers all the scientist are dead. But Brynner keeps following him. Anyway it becomes a showdown, the guy burns the robot cowboy, the End.

It sort of feel like a short movie. There are good things and good ideas in it but it somehow doesn't let its ideas breath. The character played by Brynner especially could have been given a lot more to do. And his death is rather quick. For instance, he should have kept going even after the fire burned him. There's a scene where he is all burned up, all black like charcoal, it's a great scary look but he just stays there and crumble. An entertaining movie, great visuals but nothing more.

[Tazirai]

October 21

After missing a few nights because I've just been falling asleep at ten, and than falling asleep during the comedically bad opening of The Colossus of New York, I managed to watch some horror movies tonight. Thing is they turned out to be MADMAN and Hell Night, neither are movies I've really heard of before, and after watching them I see way. Neither has much of anything going off it, these are those movies that get released in whatever year, and by the next nobody really cares.

But before talking about those two movies it's back to Colossus. This movie did things so stupid in the part I saw that you could just left them as comedy gags if you were intentionally making something as if it was and unintentionally hilarious movie. Colossus has one foot in the old and one foot in the new in maybe the funniest way I've ever seen. You know how in older movies they'll leave a newspaper or somethings one screen for a good long while so everyone has time to read it? Well Colossus does that, and than when it's done doing that a character just reads the page allowed. What the hell was the point of putting the paper on the screen so long if you're just going to than read the page? You don't even need to show the headline if you're going to have someone read it, I'll take your word on it movie that this guy isn't just making how a headline. It's so dumb I'd almost think it was meant to be funny, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. When the movie opens its these three guys watching a very boring reel of what looks like an assembly line, like the kind of thing you'd see in an education factory film, they're watching it with this kid, and the kid is really into. In fact the kid demand to get back to the movie when it stops, which is maybe the only time a child has ever demand such a thing keeps going. After some talk about how these two guys are geniuses that paper thing happens, they talk about how one of them is getting the peace prize, and then there's another page saying he returning home from getting the award. What? Turns out the whole opening was pointless, this paper telling use he's returning from picking up the Peace Prize could have been the opening of the movie and it would have saved anyone from watch four or five minutes of nothing. There's some airplane footage, the prize winners dad tells use how smart his son is, (further making the opening pointless) and than something wonderful happens. This bit was so stupid I couldn't believe it. Our genius Peace Prize winner running in traffic chasing a ball like a small child or dog and gets hit my a truck. This was hilarious, and it was made all the funnier because they undercranked the footage for of the man running some reason, like they couldn't just get the action to run or something. Shortly after this I got more interested in getting really comfortable on the couch than them putting his brain in a robot body and off to la la land I went. I did wake up for a moment to a robot doing something, but back to sleep I went.

Now on to the movies I actually watched.


Madman. Madman kind of feels like a porno company tried making a normal movie, sadly it doesn't feel like this because it's full of sex. After the open credits accompanied by music I can only really describe as stereotypical '80 porno Halloween music, we get what seems like the lamest camp counselor singing a "scary" song, while doing so we it flashes how the people he's singing to being killed. Than another counselor tells a very bad story about a local ledgend that's this movies killer, his name, Madman...Madman Marz. Mostly this movie is pretty uninterestingly, and everyone is pretty bad in. But there are times where the director is trying to get artsy where are pretty funny. There's a lot of stupid dialogue that's pretty funny. There's a hot tub scene that needs to be seen to be believed, it's so weird that I while watching it I just wonder if anyone involved in the scene raised any questions about it with the director.

There were a few good things. The FX are all good. It does a good job of selling just how strong this superhuman killer is. There's this one panning shot with the killer in silhouette in the foreground following someone that's really good. The main character accidentally shoots one of their friends in the face when she's scared because of the killer, that's something you don't see much, it was actually a surprise and funny moment.

It's not a good movie, but there's enough here that's funnier to make it not regrettable that you've scene.



Hell Night. This is one of those movies in which teens stay the night in notorious house (the last movie had one of those too, in fact the crime there is basically The Amityville Horror) where people were said to be killed, and not the house is a haunted house, oooo, spooky. If you see just one movie this October like that, probably see Night of the Demons—the original one. This movie was pretty average, not really bad, but doesn't really stand out. It does have Linda Blair in it

This movie also has good FX in it. It doesn't really have any really cool kills, but what it does do it does well.

The monster also looks into camera as he's dying, it almost feel as if he's saying: Really?

It's kind of interesting seeing these kind of things now, these not very good movies that still have the veneer of professionalism. If these were made today I can only imagine it would be shot on some cheap digital camera, (and look it) have digital blood that looks like a bad gif, it might have terrible rock or metal soundtrack, and have actors that make you think it was really nice the directors friends helped him make a movie.

Hell night was such a good film. For horror/slasher buffs it's great.

Here are my last movies for the week. Just picked these up today.

[Jared]

October 1. The Crooked Man (2016)
October 2. Creature (1985)
October 3. Twins of Evil. (1971)
October 4. The Vampire Lovers (1970)
October 5. Lust for a Vampire (1971)
October 6. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)
October 7.
October 8. Corpse Bride (2005)
October 9. Blade II (2002)
October 10. Vampire Hunter D (1985)
October 11. The Wolfman (2010). Sorority Row (2009).
October 12. Nothing but the Night (1973)
October 13. It Came From Beneath the Sea. (1955)
October 14. Countess Dracula (1971). The Frighteners (1996).
October 15. The Devil's Tomb (2009).
October 16. Red Riding Hood (2011).
October 17. Fright Night (2011). Dracula (1979).
October 18. Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013).
October 19. The Batman vs. Dracula (2005).
October 20. Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).
October 21. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988).
October 22. War-Gods of the Deep (1965). Outland (1981).
October 23. House at the End of the Street (2012). Phantasm (1979).
October 24. Species (1995).
October 25. Species II (1998).
October 26. I Spit on Your Grave (1978).



First off, the poster and the trailer get it wrong; she kills *four* men, as there are only four assailants. Wikipedia calls it a an "American rape-and-revenge exploitation-horror film", and yeah, I'd say that about covers it. The lead rapist is like a prototype John Berenthal. He and the woman give decent performances, the rest of the cast are really amateurish. But the performances are better than Last House on the Left, which I saw last year and I thought was so poorly acted that portrayal of the crime meant nothing to me. Here, the girls rape(s) and abuse goes on for a *long* time, and she's naked thoughout, and gives some pretty convincing cries...it felt skeevy and uncomfortable to watch.

While the bad guys are obviously not supposed to criminal geniuses, there's still some really dumb writing. They make a point of taking the girls canoe out into the lake and throwing her bikini top in the water, presumably to fake an accidental drowning. But then they leave her passed out on the floor of her cabin and send in the mentally retarded guy to finish her off with a pair of scissors. And they don't check to make sure that he actually did it. Weeks later the leader is very concerned that there's been no news of a body found at the cabin. And when the girl shows up at his gas station acting flirty, Not Bernathal gets into the car without hesitation! Then she threatens him with a gun, which she then puts down to be flirty again and lure him into her bathtub...come on, this doesn't even make sense anymore! The other killings are staged in kind of absurd ways. The first one is rather unlikely to work but at least makes sense and shows some clever forethought.

I don't think I would watch this again, but if only for its historical significance within the genre, I suppose it's watching once, if you can stomach it.

[Da Boat]

October 27 - Outcast(2010)



One of the most solid entries I've seen during this marathon so far. I had never heard of this until I stumbled into it by luck a few days ago. It's a really well made monster movie set in Great Britain. By the accents, not really sure if it's Irish, English or Scotish but it's in the UK and it is set in a sort of ghetto in a apartment building.

A young man live with his mother and his neighboor in the building is a young woman living with her drunk mother and her retard brother. The young man is pretty timid and his mother doesn't want him involved with girls. Meanwhile, there's this freakish monster killing and eating people in the neighboorhood.

From there you see a man played by that guy who was in that Mr. Hyde BBC show who is playing with celtic mystic arts and who is after that beast. And the timid guy's mother is clearly a witch who plays with mystic arts too. You see where this is going. There's this big showdown eventually. But along the way there's a ton of gore. The story is rather predictable but it's a well-made movie and the monster was pretty cool-looking, I thought.

[Jared]

October 1. The Crooked Man (2016)
October 2. Creature (1985)
October 3. Twins of Evil. (1971)
October 4. The Vampire Lovers (1970)
October 5. Lust for a Vampire (1971)
October 6. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)
October 7.
October 8. Corpse Bride (2005)
October 9. Blade II (2002)
October 10. Vampire Hunter D (1985)
October 11. The Wolfman (2010). Sorority Row (2009).
October 12. Nothing but the Night (1973)
October 13. It Came From Beneath the Sea. (1955)
October 14. Countess Dracula (1971). The Frighteners (1996).
October 15. The Devil's Tomb (2009).
October 16. Red Riding Hood (2011).
October 17. Fright Night (2011). Dracula (1979).
October 18. Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013).
October 19. The Batman vs. Dracula (2005).
October 20. Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).
October 21. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988).
October 22. War-Gods of the Deep (1965). Outland (1981).
October 23. House at the End of the Street (2012). Phantasm (1979).
October 24. Species (1995).
October 25. Species II (1998).
October 26. I Spit on Your Grave (1978).

October 27. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985).



I think this sequel has gotten a bum rap for years just because it was made without Wes Craven. In that respect it's no different from several other entries in the franchise, but this was the first so it takes the brunt of the ire.

It's five years later (So...either it's 1989 or the first movie took place in 1980...best not to think about it) and a new family has moved into Freddy's old house. By way of some brief dialogue, we get a vague explanation of what actually happened at the end of Nightmare 1, but none of the characters appear. Freddy is trying to possess the body of teen boy and resume his murderous ways. Subsequently, the movie relies more on body-horror and not being in control of oneself than on the "don't fall asleep!" premise of the first, though that does still come into play. Freddy is still dark and brutal here, arguably the most he ever is outside of the remake.


The last act happens in the factory where Freddy died, with nightmarish creatures abound. It's a nice sequence, but too rushed.
Oh, and the story is really a metaphor for a teenage boy's fear about being gay. Admittedly, I didn't realize it the first time, but now it seems pretty obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-M_s2Q9k0M


If Jesse ever wrote a song about his plight, it might go a little something like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVbnsjDjz4s

[Da Boat]

October 28 - Dawn of the Dead(2004)



I watched this one with my 12 years old kid nephew cause it's Friday and he is a big Walking Dead fan and I wanted to see his reaction to another zombie movie project like that.

He was finding that a lot stuff in it, esp. at the beginning was so similar to Walking Dead(I've never watched TWD so I wouldn't know). And he surprised by having zombies that can run. We were placing bets on who we will come out of it alive. He seemed to enjoy it.

Personally I felt the movie was dated. Back in the day I was amazed by it but after seeing many more of them I think it's pretty mediocre. Once 28 Days later and then 28 Weeks later and Shaun came in, it put this one in the old folks homes.

[Jared]

October 1. The Crooked Man (2016)
October 2. Creature (1985)
October 3. Twins of Evil. (1971)
October 4. The Vampire Lovers (1970)
October 5. Lust for a Vampire (1971)
October 6. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)
October 7.
October 8. Corpse Bride (2005)
October 9. Blade II (2002)
October 10. Vampire Hunter D (1985)
October 11. The Wolfman (2010). Sorority Row (2009).
October 12. Nothing but the Night (1973)
October 13. It Came From Beneath the Sea. (1955)
October 14. Countess Dracula (1971). The Frighteners (1996).
October 15. The Devil's Tomb (2009).
October 16. Red Riding Hood (2011).
October 17. Fright Night (2011). Dracula (1979).
October 18. Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013).
October 19. The Batman vs. Dracula (2005).
October 20. Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).
October 21. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988).
October 22. War-Gods of the Deep (1965). Outland (1981).
October 23. House at the End of the Street (2012). Phantasm (1979).
October 24. Species (1995).
October 25. Species II (1998).
October 26. I Spit on Your Grave (1978).
October 27. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985).

October 28. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). The Witch (2016). Dark Shadows (2012).




This 80s horror movie features two black guys, and neither one of them dies. What the hell is going on?! : )

The story picks up the threads from the first, though some indirect references to Freddy's Revenge seem to have been included. Nancy (Heather Langenkamp, who I just recently learned was also on Just the 10 of Us) is back, now a grad student who takes an internship at a teen psych hospital. Patricia Arquette has her first movie role as a troubled girl with telepathic and dream-based gymkata abilities.

It feels like it could and probably should be definitive ending for Freddy. So much so that the way the next movie brings him back just looks incredibly half-assed, like they couldn't figure anything good so they just went with whatever stupid notion somebody joked in a meeting. Freddy has one of his best lines here, but it also begins the trend of his cracking jokes a lot that would soon go overboard and arguably ruin the series.

Of course, Freddy's true weakness was proven to be the power of Hair Metal.






An isolated pilgrim family is menaced by witchcraft. It's an interesting mix of indie drama and horror film. I kind of wish that this had been the new Blair Witch movie this year instead of the one we got. The movie relies on great cinematography, great acting, and sometimes overwrought music to create a sense of unnerving dread around the events. I think as much because of the sound mix as the period speech, I missed some lines. In hindsight I wish I had watched it with subtitles. The intent of the movie is to play out in a way that folks back then would have actually expected from a tale of dark witchery. It works and is original, but the deliberate pacing and lack of exposition is liable to offputting if you're expecting a more modern take on horror.



With the exception of Eva Green, it seems like everyone in front of and behind the camera was tired while they made it. The climatic action sequence seems to have been drained of essential energy. But even the gorgeous Ms. Green, playing to type as a witchy seductress, doesn't fair too well on account of a failed attempt at an American accent. The movie has meandering, plodding tone, it feels like it can't figure out when the plot should kick in, much less what drives it. The relationships between several characters are told to us rather through some dialogue rather than actually given scenes to develop them. Alice Cooper gets an extended cameo that seems like it was just Burton wanting to have Cooper perform on set.

That tone doesn't work, it could have been either more comedic like the Addams Family movies or darker. It is visually interesting, but often literally too dark to really appreciate the designs...or that was just done to cover up laziness. Depp relies on too much makeup, with his character left looking too deathly and vampiric to be credible as a figure of romance and female desire. A few of the jokes do work, but not enough to carry the story.

I've seen maybe 20 episodes of the original series in reruns on Sci Fi Channel when I was a kid. This isn't quite a full on parody like the Brady Bunch movie, but it's not exactly a straight adaptation and updating either.

[Siddon]

31 Days 31 Monsters
October 24th Son of Kong (1933)





The story picks up about a month after the dramatic finale of the previous film and follows the further adventures of filmmaker Carl Denham, now implicated in numerous lawsuits following the destruction wrought by Kong. Carl Denham leaves New York City with the captain of the Venture, Captain Englehorn, who is certain it is just a matter of time before he is similarly served. Their efforts to make money shipping cargo around the Orient are less than successful. In the Dutch port of Dakang, Carl Denham is amused to see there's a "show" being presented, so he and Captain Englehorn attend. It turns out to be a series of performing monkeys, capped by a song ("Runaway Blues") sung by a young woman named Hilda Petersen.

A sequel that was rushed out that still plays pretty well. They sort of rushed through all the Son of Kong stuff, mostly we got a build to coming across Kong. When we do meet the Son of Kong he looks great.




October 1st - Daimajin: Monster of Terror (1966) ****1/2 stars
October 2nd - Tarantula (1955) ***1/2 stars
October 3rd - The Living Skeleton (1968) ***
October 4th - Son of Frankenstein (1939) **
October 5th - Reptilicus (1961) **
October 6th - The Undying Monster (1942) *****
October 7th - Them!(1954) ***1/2
October 8th - Night of the Blood Beast (1958) **1/2
October 9th - Black Moon (1934) **
October 10th - Island of Doctor Moreau(1977) ****
October 11th - Phantom of 10,000 Leagues (1955) **
October 12th - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) ***1/2
October 13th - The H-Man (1958) ****
October 14th - The Fly (1958) *****
October 15th - Gamera (1965) ***
October 16th - Feast (2005) *
October 17th - Teeth (2007) ***1/2
October 18th - The Neon Demon (2016) ****
October 19th - The Shallows (2016) **1/2
October 20th - C.H.U.D(1984) ***3/4
October 21st - Q:The Winged Serpent (1982) ****
October 22nd - Little Shop of Horrors (1960) DUD
October 23rd - Exorcist III (1990) ****
October 24th - Invaders from Mars (1953) ***
October 25th - Son of Kong (1933) **