Holy shit. I used to watch a lot of TBN and Carman was all over it but I’ve never seen this before. I don’t remember his Jersey accent and am curious if he’s just busting it out for this song or if it was a regular thing for him, but I’m pretty sure if I start watching his videos I’ll never stop. There’s also the risk I’d end up becoming a born again.
The Thing really was amazing. Definitely one of those movies like, say, Laputa where you go “Oh yeah, I knew all my favorite video games from Japan ripped this off, but BOY did they rip this off.” I had a hard time following things in the middle cuz I am really, really bad with character names and lost track of who exactly MacReady was. (The answer: it’s Kurt Russell, idiot.) But fuuuuck, definitely a top tier movie.
I sat in the second row from the back, in front of a group of young women and a guy who I think may be the reincarnation of Paul Lynde. They added so much to the experience, the guy more than anyone. He kept muttering “No, no, no…I don’t like this!!” during all the gory bits – I swear he was on the verge of panic during the kennel scene. But afterwards he declared the movie “only a 6 or a 7. It was too slow. All those men and no one took their shirt off.” And during the trailers for cheesy 80 horror movies he was saying half of them were “total 10s.” No one should be excited by Critters or C.H.U.D., that’s what I think. So clearly he and I weren’t meant to be.
I haven’t seen any of Carpenter’s post-They Live films and I think I gotta fix that. There’s gotta be something interesting in there, right? Though I dunno if I can watch Ghosts of Mars without getting hung up on what could have been – we were so close to having a John Carpenter movie starring Ice Cube and Courtney Love. I’m still mourning that loss.
The Blob '88 was fun, largely because Kevin Dillon is maybe the least photogenic leading man I’ve ever seen in a major motion picture. I just looked up the budget and it was almost $20mil (and grossed $8m), which is fucking insane. How do you put that much money into a movie starring Kevin Dillon’s face. I don’t think it’s a must-watch though. The gore and effects are excellent, but I kinda think horror movies shouldn’t be slick, and this is very slick, very wannabe Spielberg, or at least rooted in the same 50s nostalgia as so much 80s shit but there’s even less depth to it than the Spielberg-related stuff. Like during the climax I just thought “I kinda wish we were watching the final reel of Gremlins instead.” It never really gets manic, never remotely frightening, more of a monorail ride than a rollercoaster. Pleasant but not thrilling.
I’ve always been curious about the 88 Blob even though I’ve never seen it, so I looked up the director’s filmography and was really surprised
The Hunchback (pre-production)
Witchboard (filming)
2016 I Am Wrath
2002 The Scorpion King
2000 Bless the Child
1996 Eraser (as Charles Russell)
1994 The Mask (as Charles Russell)
1988 The Blob
1987 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Not only this-thread fan-favorite Dream Warriors, but also The Mask, Eraser, Scorpion King… I don’t know anything about Bless the Child but based on Basinger presence, combined with his most recent John Travolta movie, I feel like he is basically the king of semi-successful to unsuccessful vehicles for big time movie stars.
I had always associated Dream Warriors with Frank Darabont but I guess he didn’t actually direct it, just wrote it.
Anyway this man’s career is a miracle and I’m so glad he exists
I find directors with careers like this really interesting. Where they peak super early and then it’s a steady decline (when judged by dorks like me) followed by a huge dead zone. I always wonder if they made enough money to survive after Hollywood kicked them to the curb. Or if they even got kicked to begin with. I don’t know how any of this shit works.
Let the Right One In and Ginger Snaps are both good. I think Ginger Snaps may be the only werewolf related movie I’ve ever enjoyed. (I haven’t seen An American Werewolf in London. Is that any good at all?)
I am currently downloading a torrent of Spirits of the Dead because I want to rewatch Toby Dammit, which may not really be a horror movie but all the shit surrounding it is. And that shit isn’t as good as Toby Dammit. But I strongly recommend hopping on this torrent if you wanna watch Fellini’s best movie.
There’s a midnight showing of HAUSU in Brooklyn this weekend and if any of you cool folks wanna go see that shit I will pay for your damn ticket. I’ll even buy you a drink. You don’t even have to sit by me. I just want more people to see HAUSU in a theater, as God intended.
Holy shit (literally)! The Arcanum makes an appearance in that Carmen video among the “Dungeons & Dragons” books. I’ve been looking for a copy of that forever. One of my friends had it when I first started played looong ago. It was intended to be its own game, but it was close enough to 1st edition ad&d we used it as a books of extra races and way too many really specific classes.
Not very Halloween-y but a legit slow burn thriller-horror. I wasn’t sure what to expect and it worked much better that way. A little off from the start (where is this going?) but gradually gets really unsettling.
I’m not big on nostalgia. I think the past was horrible. But here are two things I miss from the 90s: WCW Monday Nitro, which was almost always bad, and Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs, which was good.
In another life I would have been an alcoholic local TV horror show host.
Last night I watched “Southbound”. I was very excited to watch that motion picture, cuz it had a really great poster. But it’s an anthology movie, and I’m not big on that. But it also featured Dana Gould and David Yow, which is the kinda shit that teenage HOBO woulda gone crazy for. One of the anthologies was kinda good and kinda creeped me out while drunk and looking at my phone and half-watching it. It was the one with the car accident. The rest…again, if you wanna watch a horror anthology just download Spirits of the Damned and skip to Toby Dammit. I don’t think horror on digital film (or whatever) works. I think horror should have a grimy feel to it. That is why Texas Chainsaw Massacre is still the best one. It feels filthy. I don’t think horror movies should get HD transfers. I think you should have to watch them on shitty 35MM prints, or VHS, and you should have to spend a minute or two examining the box art beforehand.
If any of you want to see HAUSU in Brooklyn on Saturday night I will give you my HAUSU shirt. It’s a 2xl and it doesn’t fix me, and even if it doesn’t fit you it’s a cool ass shirt. Orange. A very good look.
