Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

Return to Horror High 1987 Beyond the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon 2006 Slaughter High 1986 Silent Scream 2005 Silent Scream 1980 The Initiation 1984 The Burning 1980 Dark Ride 2006 Lake Death 2007 You’re Next 2013 Maniac 1980 Sorority House Massacre 1986 Happy Birthday to Me 1981 Curtains 1983 Shredder 2003 Unhinged 1982 My Little Eye 2002 Five Across the Eyes 2006 Intruder 1989 April Fool’s Day 2008 This seem

I do agree with a large majority of the critics (and imagine Zombie would perhaps) that once the film enters Haddonfield suburbia the director is inauthentic in presentation. I don’t believe the daughter (Laurie, Michael’s long lost adopted sister) would be talking about an old man wanting to touch her sexually with her mother while her father is grumbling, after bits of profanity, about a hardware store going out of business. The mother, while cooking eggs, shrugs her off in half-giggles. Not just this, but the follow-up, when we see “normal suburbia kids” in Haddonfield feels forced. Nothing against Zombie—he knows the characters he is comfortable writing in his films (it is what sets him apart and also stereotypes him)—but when he steps out of his comfort zone, I think you can sense the loss of interest. I think that is why accepting a remake can be a burden. It is as if some part of you feels obligated to give back to the original film’s fans, but in doing so your own vision i

**/***** Fright Night 2 literally opens with a bang as a young beauty pumping gas is attacked by a vampire at a service station. An attempt to blow up her car in order to kill the attacker doesn’t help. In fact, the security camera shows an “invisible” attacker bleeding the victim in the store. This feeding recuperates the burned vampire back whole and thus begins the sequel to a remake nobody called for. The remake actually entertained me somewhat, but it wasn’t a total success. It was decently cast, with some fun moments but, for me, doesn’t hold a candle to 80s classic. I didn’t see anything about it that warranted a sequel to it, though. The sequel came and went during October of 2013 with little fanfare. I recall seeing it advertised on Direct TV cinema but not long after fell into the mass of horror movies populating the “shelves” of stream/dvd Netflix. I always keep an open mind, although I just wasn’t holding my breath that this would be particularly worthwhile considerin

Michael is about to complete his wardrobe in Rob Zombie's Halloween Obtaining the uniform is a step in providing Michael with the iconic "costume" that identifies him to the slasher fanbase. But the Shape mask itself puts the final touch (not to forget the butcher knife also tucked away under the floorboards of Mikey's house) on what personifies Michael Myers. The man behind the persona is also important I think. The sequels of the Halloween franchise offer examples of so-so Myers. Part 4 had a Myers that is basically a walking stilt, but Mane, for me, nails it out of the ballpark. I harken back to Pleasence's scene in Halloween as his Loomis talks to the sheriff about what lies behind the eyes of Michael. Pure evil. The devil's eyes. Black eyes. Mane, however a polite soul out of character, embodies the Michael Myers Pleasence speaks of in Carpenter's masterpiece. I think Zombie is at his absolute best and most inspired when shooting Mich

If you are a fan of Rob Zombie's  Halloween 3-hour documentary, then this sequence with Ken Foree and Tyler Mane where two big guys duke it out in a truck wash bathroom stall will be especially memorable. It was meticulously storyboarded and obvious that Zombie created Big Grizz with Foree in mind. While Zombie's buddies from previous films (Easterbrook, Towles, and Moseley) were mostly relegated to extras after their scene was cut from future releases of Halloween, Foree made it through intact. It isn't a particularly long scene, but the sheer brute struggle and physicality leaves a lasting impression. I smile when I think about how Foree was concerned he would look weak in the scene but Zombie does enough to establish that he doesn't go down without a fight. If you think about it, this whole turn of events was due to the simple truth that Michael wanted Big Grizz's uniform. It was a minor objective succeeded through a major b

Michael observes some of his handiwork right before escaping Smith's Grove in Rob Zombie's Halloween Look, Michael had to get out of Smith’s Grove somehow. Carpenter didn’t really elaborate in detail how Michael did this in his film, but Zombie felt the need to do so in his. The theatrical version I watched had security guards waiting to transfer him to another institution, but in the version released to dvd, the rape of a female patient by Lewis Temple and his equally heinous buddy (also an employee of the establishment, stating that the place seemed to take any assortment of lowlife as staff) inside Michael’s cell (Temple just has this fixation on provoking Michael, and it goes perhaps to his fearless, ‘don’t give a shit’ personality that he does this). This whole sequence is shot as a shocker where these two employees are the lowest of low pieces of human excrement but their scumbaggery gives way to Michael’s release on a public not prepared for him. While it’s a head-

Michael is now grown up in the menacing form of Tyler Mane in Rob Zombie's Halloween The film moved to the next chapter, with Michael now all grown up in the hulking brute body of Tyler Mane (in my opinion, a superb hire by Zombie; the guy looks scary and that is important when casting for a character that needs to be). Mane's eyes--like in the visual above as McDowell's pitiful Loomis, admitting surrender by waving the white flag, telling Michael that their "treatment" has lasted longer than his first marriage, and was, in a way, the best friendship he ever had (acknowledging how fucked up that is)--are seemingly soulless, black as pitch, and stone cold. Loomis tells him he must move on as Michael will remain in the institution. Michael stares and barely moves. He's like this pillar of stone that possibly contains an inner rage patiently awaiting release inside Michael until the opportunity arises. Lewis Temple is introduced as an ant

Michael seems to have slipped away as the child has become killer in Rob Zombie's Halloween Loomis is assigned by a judge at the extremely costly trial of Michael Myers to evaluate and analyze his mental state and try to find answers behind the murders committed by the kid. Within the confines of Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, Michael, the child, steadily worsens. A kindly janitor with some past history in prison tells Michael to hide within his mind and away from the walls as a way to escape, but this advice very well could have been a reason behind the kid’s gradual mental decline. Creating masks to wear to “hide his ugliness” and as he remains in the institution Michael begins to close off to Loomis and even his visiting mother. Michael seems to indicate in his first talks with Loomis that he doesn’t even remember killing his family, acting as if they were still okay and wondered when he would get to leave (he even asks his mom how the family’s doing during a visit). Never le