Topic: My Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2008

[Najemikon]

Shawshank Redemption is not too bad except that Red is an Irish not a black man. The Green Mile is too sweet for my taste, this is a film for my mother not for me  

I love Shawshank. I cannot imagine anyone doing the part of Red better than Morgan Freeman. I know that is impossible to say really, but for films to be truly great, you need a little bit of magic. That movie had its fair share, but perhaps he was the most powerful. Others considered for the role were Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Robert Redford... none, I can see as Red. The part of Andy was offered to Tom's Hanks and Cruise, and Kevin Costner. Neither of the Tom's, but Costner, I think would have been interesting as Andy. But no, there was only one Red. At least they referenced the change! I can't remember the dialogue now, but I'm sure Andy asks him why he's called Red, who answers that it's because he's Irish, and laughs.

Pete, in a nice link between these little off-topics, what I mentioned above is my criteria for a five star rating. A film doesn't have to be perfect, not even the best it could be at that time. But it does have to have a little bit of magic. A feeling that lightning was caught in a bottle and no amount of design would ever repeat it.

That's interesting for someone meticulous like Welles, Hitchcock, Spielberg or Kurosawa, many of whose films I would rate a full five, because there is a feeling they are such master technicians, that at their peak they could manipulate a perfect film whenever they wanted. That is true, I think, but filmmaking is hard and artists like that are actually very rare. So they are their own magic ingredient. Just look at M Night Shyamalan who looked like he was one of those select technicians on the back of The Sixth Sense. God knows he's tried, but he's been shovelling shit ever since!

So if you can't force genius, fate has to take a hand. Frank Sinatra was all set to be Dirty Harry, but couldn't do it because of an injury. Clint made it an icon just by turning up. Indiana Jones was going to be played by Tom Selleck. Eric Stoltz was all set to be Marty McFly. Those films would have been merely good, possibly less, if they'd stuck to the plans. So those moments should be stamped with five stars to yell at everyone: you MUST see this movie! It's more than just good and it probably won't happen again.

There'll always be Paris, but only one Casablanca...

This is where you tell me you hate Casablanca.

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Friday the 13th: The Series: Season 1 - Hellowe'en
Movie Count: 33
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 7pm
Plot:
Micki and Ryan throw a Halloween party in order to meet the neighbors, but they end up with a guest they didn't expect - the evil spirit of their Uncle Vendredi.

My Thoughts:
Woohoo! a Halloween episode of Friday the 13th: The Series... I love horror shows and I love Halloween episodes of any show... so this one is a great thing to me! I even get to see it for the very first time on this set as it is one of the many episodes I have never seen. And it was a great episode... I enjoyed every minute of it. Possibly my favorite episode so far!

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Diary of the Dead
Movie Count: 34
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 8am
Plot:
From legendary frightmaster George A. Romero comes "one of the most daring, hypnotic and absolutely vital horror films of the past decade" ('fangoria.com'). Romero continues his influential "Dead" series, this time focusing on a terrified group of college film students who record the pandemic rise of flesh-eating zombies while struggling for their own survival. Intensely gruesome and relentlessly grisly - fueled by the director's signature realistic special effects - 'Diary of the Dead' is must-see horror that "is Romero at his finest" ('bloody-disgusting.com').

My Thoughts:
I probably shouldn't have... but I went into this one with high expectations. I mean come on... a Zombie movie with Romero's name on it? Right there tells you to expect a great movie... at least in my eyes. And this was a really enjoyable movie. I liked most of what was done here. But I was just expecting more. Maybe I was expecting a little too much I don't know... but I got left with just a slight case of "that's it?" feeling afterwards. I mean I am happy with it... but I think it could have been better.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Night Scream
Movie Count: 35
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 10:30am
Plot:
Driven by unexplainable nightmares of a violent murder, Drew Summers (Candace Cameron Bure) mysteriously arrives in the small town of Steveston, Oregon, on the first anniversary of the death of Laura Fairgate - a young woman who died with her boyfriend (Casper Van Dien) in a murder/suicide that rocked the town.

Ray Ordwell (Denis Arndt), Laura's stepfather, is just concluding a moving speech to launch a week-long festival in his stepdaughter's honor when Drew approaches the stage in a trance-like state and announces that she's Laura. Laura's mother Julie (Teri Garr) wants desperately to believe that Drew really is possessed by her daughter's spirit, but the townspeople, who want nothing more than to put the tragedy behind them, believe Drew is simply putting on an act.

As she confronts a conspiracy of silence from the Steveston residents and the town sheriff (Bobby Hosea), Drew starts to question her sanity. With increasingly vivid images to spur her on, she begins to uncover clues into the strange murder/suicide mystery. But the closer Drew gets to the truth, the more in danger she is of learning what happened to Laura - the hard way.

My Thoughts:
This movie here is another complete blind buy... but I picked it up for 2 reasons. First it was really cheap ($3.99) and also because it has Candace Cameron Bure (DJ on Full House) in it. Turns out this is a TV Movie... but that is ok... I have a lot of TV Movies that I really enjoy. Thankfully this one is no exception. I enjoyed every minute of this movie. It is not what I would call a straight out horror... it is more of a mixture of a ghost story and murder mystery. I am happy I added this one to my collection. I just wish they would have added some sort of extras on the disc. But this one has nothing at all when it comes to extras. The only menu options on this DVD is Play Movie and Scene Selection.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[Najemikon]

I probably shouldn't have... but I went into this one with high expectations. I mean come on... a Zombie movie with Romero's name on it? Right there tells you to expect a great movie... at least in my eyes. And this was a really enjoyable movie. I liked most of what was done here. But I was just expecting more. Maybe I was expecting a little too much I don't know... but I got left with just a slight case of "that's it?" feeling afterwards. I mean I am happy with it... but I think it could have been better.

In a way, it sounds like you came to the same conclusion as me. Review

I think it was badly flawed, but still brilliant in its own way. I hear Romero is setting up a sequel of sorts so thank goodness he hasn't been compromised. Hopefully he'll have something more powerful up his sleeve this time.

[addicted2dvd]

Yeah... looks like we came to pretty much the same conclusion... only you were able to verbalize it much better then I was. 

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Pulse
Movie Count: 36
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 5:30pm
Plot:
The year's most original horror film, 'Pulse' takes fear into new territory - the very devices we trust to get us through the day. When the dead discover a means to contact the living through electronic devices, cellphones and computers become open gateways to monstrosities and destruction. Starring Kristen Bell ('Veronica Mars'), Christina Milian ('Love Don't Cost a Thing'), Ian Somerhalder ('Lost') and Rick Gonzalez ('Coach Carter'), 'Pulse' is loaded with terrifying thrills and gruesome special effects, and capped with an astonishing surprise ending. 

My Thoughts:
This is one I have never seen before that a good friend recommended to me. It is a good movie... but far from great. A movie that I did enjoy... and will enjoy in the future I am sure. But I have definitely seen better movies in the same sub-genre. One thing that I did like a lot in this movie... the fact that it stars Kristen Bell... I loved her as Veronica Mars! this movie does have a touch of weird in it.. and that could be one of the things that put me off of it a little. But over all it was a fun movie... worth the hour and a half I put into it.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[Jimmy]

This one is an american remake of a japanese movie, so if you want to see the original.

Original at Amazon

[addicted2dvd]

Thanks Jimmy! 

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Mulberry St
Movie Count: 37
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 4:45am
Plot:
The city that never sleeps may shut its eyes for good when a deadly infection turns its residents to savage creatures. There is only hope for a small few, including six recently evicted tenants who must protect their crumbling apartment complex as the city around them is thrown into chaos... 

My Thoughts:
Another blind buy... The blurb on the front cover calls this a Zombie movie. I think that is a bit misleading. It is definitely similar to a zombie movie... but in my honest opinion it is more of a mutation type movie. I have enjoyed most of the After Dark Horrorfest releases so I wasn't to worried about it... just wanted to complete the collection. These After Dark Horrorfest movies is independent movies... so you go in realizing they don't have the budget that the Hollywood big releases have. This one is a good movie. I definitely enjoyed it... but at the same time it is not the best out there. It is just a strong above average movie.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[Achim]

My Thoughts:
I probably shouldn't have... but I went into this one with high expectations. I mean come on... a Zombie movie with Romero's name on it? Right there tells you to expect a great movie... at least in my eyes. And this was a really enjoyable movie. I liked most of what was done here. But I was just expecting more. Maybe I was expecting a little too much I don't know... but I got left with just a slight case of "that's it?" feeling afterwards. I mean I am happy with it... but I think it could have been better.[/b]

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

This makes me wonder... You say it was lacking something and give it four skulls. So, what if it had that little somethign more? Your fist five-skull rating?

[Jimmy]

I probably shouldn't have... but I went into this one with high expectations. I mean come on... a Zombie movie with Romero's name on it? Right there tells you to expect a great movie... at least in my eyes.

After Land of the Dead I don't really expect anything great from Romero. He was whinning on every of his commentary track about the follow up to Day of the Dead and it was a lot of whinning for nothing. He is not really a great director in my oppinion, if he was that good he would have made different genre of movies... Except for Martin and The Crazies the majority of his director work is zombie movie or flop.

[addicted2dvd]

Title: The Curse of Lizzie Borden
Movie Count: 38
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 7am
Plot:
Nestled within a quiet California town, a museum dedicated to the legend of Lizzie Borden has been opened. Cassy, a beautiful college student is drawn to the museum, taking a summer job as a tour guide.

Cassy is quickly propelled into a mystery of the folklore surrounding the legend of Lizzie Borden. It began to consume her every waking moment. She begins dressing, acting and talking as if she were Lizzie Borden. And there are the dreams. Dreams of blood and death !

One by one her friends are found murdered and her boyfriend Andrew begins to fear the worst. Cassy may be next !

Is some madman killing off all their friends ? Has the ghost of Lizzie Borden come back for a bloody rampage ?

Will Cassy and Andrew be able to stop the killer or will they fall victim to the same fate that Lizzie's parents did so many years ago ?

Untill the final bloody axe falls, no one is safe from the CURSE OF LIZZIE BORDEN.

My Thoughts:
Wow.. what do I say about this movie? First a little background for those of you that don't know why I ordered this movie.  I went into an insane deal with an online friend at dvdcollectorsonline.com that basically meant he would buy and watch my worst movie experience (The Sorority) if I did the same for his. I know... that makes absolutely no sense... but it was done for just laughs. Now on to the movie itself. The acting was completely pitiful. The murder effects was just plain awful and cheesy. The story itself could of had potential if we had a half way decent writer. What was good about this movie? On it's own absolutely nothing at all! Compared to The Sorority?.. at least this one was ever so slightly more entertaining.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5
Does Not even deserve half of a skull.
0.0/5

NOTE TO JIMMY: Yes this movie sucks big time... but over all I think I just slightly got the better deal of the 2 of us! 

[addicted2dvd]

Title: The Curse of Lizzie Borden
Movie Count: 39
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 9am
Plot:
A small college town is gripped in terror as coeds are being found burned alive. Carved into their charred remainsare the words "Join or die". The police has no leads, but when a student discovers that the hottest sorority on campus is actually a coven of devil worshipers, she's brutally murdered by the Satanic witches. At the student's graveside her sister vows revenge and sets out to make things right. Hunter becomes the hunted as she fights her way through a maze of Satanic rituals, murder, beheadings, lesbianism and black magic in her quest for vengeance, as all hell breaks loose in the final showdown between good and evil.

My Thoughts:
OK... to make matters worse. The second half of the insane deal I mentioned in my last post was that we had to also endure our worst horror movie experience once again... and perhaps find a new appreciation for the movie? But that is not meant to happen here! I think the best thing I can do here is quote my thoughts from the first time I watched this sorry excuse for a movie.

OMG... what a total and utter waste of time! Naturally after seeing the trailer to this movie the other day online I was not expecting much of anything at all. But in this case I was not expecting anything and still got disappointed! The acting is atrocious... the quality of the effects is laughable... and the DVD itself is pitiful! I got this DVD for free.... And I Feel Cheated!!! I was never so thrilled to see a set of credits roll!

Over-all I think I got the better of the deal when it came to the first half of the deal... at least when I bought "The Curse of Lizzie Borden" I got a slightly better storyline... and add to that it was a shorter movie to endore then "The Sorority" is. But overall... I think when it came to this insane deal.. we were both losers!

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5
Does Not even deserve half of a skull.
0.0/5

NOTE TO JIMMY: OK... I have done it... both movies back to back! Your Turn! 

[Jimmy]

NOTE TO JIMMY: OK... I have done it... both movies back to back! Your Turn! 

I write my review for the movie that I've watched this morning and I start my torture.