Happy Halloween

Light day and evening viewing. Just a week at work that took some wind out of the sails.

The Roost (2005) 2.5/5
Ti West directed this before The House of the Devil. Brother and sister and their two buds take an alternate rural route due to traffic, crashing into a rock accidentally. Trying to locate help, even with a cop who accompanies them to a farmhouse, they run afoul of a roost of bats from a barn that swoop down for a desired feeding frenzy. Their bite causes those  victimized to turn into flesh-hungry zombies. Probably will best remembered for Tom Noonan as the host of a chiller theater program that introduces this movie, complete with monster attacking the camera man. Camera within the movie hangs on gaping, bloody wounds caused by the bats. Larry Fessenden has a cameo as a truck driver attacked by bats. Zombies also attack. Violins are cranked at high decibel.

Thriller (1983) 5/5
The brilliant collaboration of director John Landis, makeup artist Rick Baker, and pop icon Michael Jackson is 15 minutes of pure joy. Werewolf effects certain to conjure up thoughts of An American Werewolf in London, those yellow eye contacts, the dead rising from graves, and a zombie choreographed dance off. Michael is both a werewolf and zombie. The Vincent Price narration on top of the memorably catchy song and fun horror lyrics make for perfect Halloween viewing. Jackson was an incredible talent and this was him at his peak.

Tales from the Darkside - Trick or Treat / Halloween Candy [both 3/5]
Two Halloween episodes of the 80s series features two mean old farts who treat kids lousy and suffer the consequences. Oddly Trick or Treat, the pilot for the anthology show, was made in '83 but the series didn't start until nearly a year later. Barnard Hughes is a greedy, insidious debt collector and shop owner who thoroughly enjoys holding over the IOU problems of his debt victims. The bad crops and unfortunate weather have left the debtors desperate, as Hughes capitalizes on it for his own amusement by setting up his house with devices both visually and auditory scary using the IOUs as a dangling carrot for adults to encourage their kids to try and find them, hidden somewhere. Hughes is perfectly cast as the loathsome and devious Gideon Hackles. Ed French and D'Arcy contribute some great makeup work. The ghouls that emerge, a wonderfully grotesque witch and even the devil waiting on Gideon to arrive within their red-hued vortex to hell, beset Gideon inside his home. The second season Halloween Candy, from '85, has Roy Poole as a misanthropic ogre who dismisses his adult son's wish for him to give out candy to kids trick-or-treating. His rotten treatment of kids, including dumping mayo-goop mixed with candy bits into one of their bags, soon earns the ire of a creature...one might draw parallels to the Spirit of Halloween from Trick 'r Treat (2007). The monster looks like the thing in The Raft, from Creepshow. Roaches might also call to mind They're Creeping Up on You. No surprise as this was directed by Tom Savini.

The Twilight Zone - The Howling Man 4.5/5
John Carradine has a field day and shows no restraint (his monologue about Satan, locating him during his many travels, eventually imprisoning him in the European monastery, complete with his STAFF OF TRUTH, white coif and full beard, eyes in full use, is a tour de force) as Brother Jerome, trying to convince American tourist and seeker of truth, David Ellington (HM Wynant), who happens upon the monastery when a thunderstorm disrupts his walk through the countryside, that the howling man in the cell begging for release is the devil! Robin Hughes is quite effective as a pitiable prisoner, disheveled with raggy beard and clothes. This comes with Hughes transitioning to the devil, with horns, cape, and v-shape beard and pencil mustache. Wynant aged when feverishly narrating to us and a maidservant this flashback and his younger self mulling over the extraordinary events inside the monastery illustrate the change he experiences once he realizes his error. Shot in tilted angles with emphasis on the storm outside, with specific gothic touches, this is deserved of its comparisons to Universal horrors of the past. Carradine in the Moses Old Testament garb, holding nothing back as he goes full bore, is a treat. Unique within the Twilight Zone series.
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2018 was a great year for October. It was definitely the bee's knees for the rejuvenated Halloween franchise. The month is coming to end and I was purposely avoiding anything much horror Tuesday because I have a big Wednesday evening prepared. Halloween (1978) was on AMC and, even as I have already watched my Blu Sunday afternoon of the film, I thought what the hell. My Facebook timeline has been quite an enthusiastic horror and  seasonal October. Lots of horror and Halloween talk with plenty of clever memes.

I particularly like the Myers dismissal of early Christmas talk....

I came across Halloween when Laurie and Annie are in her car as the sun is starting to slip into set, always so idyllic a sequence, as that horizontal sun streak breaks across their faces, a time of the day we fail to often even appreciate. Annie makes a remark after her misadventure in the laundry room to Laurie that Halloween has not been her night. I smarked, it sure won't end well either. As much as I love Cundy's work at night, bright Cali in the day sure can't be undervalued, either.

And I just wanted to see the kids enjoying Halloween, in '78. I was one year old then. So 40 years later, this month securing a lot of attention for Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, as if we got to experience one last hurrah.

I wanted to mention a memory. I was a kid in '87 or '88. Maybe '89. I'm thinking it was the year before Jason Takes Manhattan. I had been out trick-or-treating when I had the chance to spend the night at my grandmother's, and my cousin, who lived with her at the time, sure enough was watching Halloween on HBO. As Loomis shoots Myers SIX TIMES, I knew that this was a moment sure to cement my attraction and affection towards it forever.

Oh, and one more little anecdote. My aunt told me about her experience while watching this film with my mother and father and her friend. When Michael was stabbed by Laurie in the closet, collapsing, her moving past his fallen body to rush the kids from the house, there is a brief respite, a quiet calm. Laurie comes to rest, catch her breath, exhale. Turning her back to him, Myers robotically rises...when this happened way back when, my aunt had popcorn in her lap. As Michael rose, the popcorn went out of my aunt's lap...it made her freak out. That is something lost today. A nice anecdote I love to share.

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10/30

There are a lot of my “horror favorites” that have been unfortunately “October zoned” over the last few years. Either shoehorned into the month or leading up to October (September in preparation). Phantasm (1979) is an obvious example of this. Night of the Living Dead (1968) has sort of existed outside (and inside) of the Halloween season bubble. It is such a significantly watchable film that has escaped into the outer edges of this part of the year. George Romero and his Latent Image team made sure of that. With only a few exceptions, I have watched a majority of the Universal and Hammer monster movies and all but Halloween III and [throwing up in my mouth} Resurrection of the Halloween series (not counting the Rob Zombie films which oddly rarely make the October cut; I often just get the itch to watch them again, but at peculiar times during the year).

Halloween (2018)

I finally got the chance to see this in the theatre on Saturday night. I thought it was okay. I guess there was some unrealistic expectations as the trailers really tantalize. I was appreciative of the opening credits and the orange titles with the jack-o’lantern smashed reversing into a healthy carved pumpkin. I liked the feel of the film because of the Carpenters’ scoring (glad John and Cody got to work together on it) and the return of the Halloween III masks. Dr. Sartain’s “heel turn” interfering when Michael is vulnerable because he’s obsessed with what is going on in the killer’s head was just an absolutely stupid development and twist that took me right out of the film. And there are the typical moronic choices like one teenager who makes a pass at Strode’s granddaughter, left behind by her in disgust, noticing Michael from afar, believing him to be a neighbor who’s yard he intruded, not hauling ass until it’s too late. There are some cool “aftermath” effects like a victim of the bus crash who has a neckbone protruding (being in the same bus as Mike has its disadvantages) or a gas station attendant’s lower jaw separated from his mouth after having his face slammed into the counter. The blogposters’ unfortunate fates in the bathroom was intense (the “loose teeth” was a good bit of nastiness), and I liked their interview of Strode in her security-protected home because of how Curtis reacts to their questions. Curtis as the traumatized (but nonetheless tough) Strode who has waited for Michael to be released but is also scared and undermined by the anxieties of the past amazed me. Greer as her estranged daughter, reeling from a childhood where she was trained in survivalist techniques, trying to adopt a sense of normalcy, eventually having to utilize those skills imprinted into her regardless of her desire to forget about them, was a great bit of casting I was thrilled to see. When it was over, I was happy I got to see it, but, quite frankly, it wasn’t all that much better than some of the other sequels. 2.5/5

Halloween H20 (1998)

Steve Miner’s glossiest film is well produced and Curtis (although admitting that it was ultimately a paycheck film, desired to bring the band back together, unsuccessful as the process reached the film set and finish) offers us an interesting alternate Laurie Strode. This film follows the second Halloween film (1981), while David Gordon Green’s film followed after the ’78 Carpenter film. So we have this Myers/Strode multiverse where fans can follow alternate stories based off Carpenter’s film. I don’t see why can’t have a pick of where the story goes. In Miner’s film, the plot is slight, with a pace that does move fast enough, and the running time is barely past 80 minutes. Curtis didn’t sleepwalk to me. I thought she was effective, particularly when she is dealing with hallucinations, sees him in the porthole of a door that separates them, follows down a darkened street with ax in hand calling out to him for their final confrontation, dodging a knife that goes through a cabinet where knives are strewn out on a kitchen floor, and avoiding him under tables. She is resilient, courageous, tormented, alcoholic, vulnerable, and tired. For fans of Hartnett and Williams, they’re just kids and that is kind of neat to see them early in their careers. Yes, this is very much in the vein of “Scream” or “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. It feels very much like them, light on gore and exploitative elements. And I think it functions well as an end to the series if you are like me and don’t consider this film’s follow up as canon. I like that Laurie chops his head off and it ends. I would like to think that Gordon Green’s film was also similarly an end to the Myers saga, but it has made too much fucking money. 2.5/5

Halloween II (1981)

I’ll admit that this was more or less an “obligation watch”. Probably for the first time in a while, I watched this very much like 4, 5, and 6…because this is Halloween season, the films are expected viewing. The inclusion of Samhain and Pleasence having to go in depth on it, Myers mentioning it when he broke into a school (and the development regarding Laurie and Michael being siblings, a plot device Carpenter seemingly regrets) through blood on a chalkboard and picture with knife stuck into a kid’s crayon portrait, just didn’t work for me this time. I really felt like Carpenter just needed something included to add mystique to Myers and it gave Loomis some historical Halloween subject matter to explain to us and his nurse (and the deputies helping him hunt for Myers). I can see why critics were harsh although slasher fans, for whom this is catered to, have always been kinder to it…the level of violence does seem desperate to please those looking for it. I don’t object to the abandoned hospital and the lack of activity because it allows for a sense of eerie unease due to being the perfect locale for Myers to move about as he picks off the staff one by one. Slasher formula sequel. Laurie isn’t as strongly written here, as her ability to get away from Myers gets a bit ridiculous considering her injuries and inability to call for help until their unavailability is certain is a reach. Cundy’s work is the main asset. Michael is still effectively shot. I love the line from Loomis regarding the neighborhood assaulting the old Myers home. And the car crashing into the kid in the Myers mask resulting in an explosion remains quite a potent scene. 3/5

Halloween (1978)

I decided to watch it Sunday evening. I waffled back and forth about when I should watch it. Sometimes it is just nice to go back to the beginning and see the first film before all the sequels and such deluded what made Carpenter’s film work so well. Michael returning home, Loomis in pursuit, the “babysitters and their friends” unexpected targets as The Shape eyes them with plans to destroy them. Carpenter, Cundy, and Hill this creative force behind it all. This blog has certainly been quite a platform for my musings on this film over and over again. I agree with something I read one time where a critic mentions that this is too good to watch just at this point of the year. Much like other horror films, this wasn’t always confined to October. 5/5

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Much like Halloween ’78, I have written about this on the blog more times than I can count. It isn’t just relegated to the month of October. Its relevance continues to remain quite prescient. The Walking Dead has indeed plucked plenty of bloom from this classic’s rose. I was feeling guilty as my son watched this with me. Particularly when the zombies eat from the couple’s burnt remains in the truck and the zombie daughter who murders her mom with the trowel. I think one of the film’s most underrated scenes involved Duane Jones describing his experience before finding the house and encountering Barbara…sometimes dialogue and presentation through performance can explain a harrowing event (an explosion at a gas station and the absence of the living as the dead walk) just as impressively as showing it to us. The filmmakers saved money and Jones was more than capable enough to illustrate the experience in such detail we see him paint a tragic picture in words. Barbara might be considered an incredibly weak character but her catatonia (her picking at an embroidered cloth on the couch and lucid comments to Ben out of the fog of hysteria) and collapse just indicated to me that each person (man and woman) react to what they see and experience differently. Ben only lost control once Mr. Cooper emerges to challenge his authority and sense of action and control…and because they can’t find common ground, it all ends in their downfall. 5/5

Phantasm (1979)

I guess nowadays I look at this film as a series of outrageous and inventive setpieces. For some time I have wanted to really write about it in long form. I plan to do so outside the season when I can watch it without the pressures of time constraint. The severed fingers leaking yellow blood turning into a monster fly, dwarf monsters in robes on the attack, nightmare sequences where creatures grab at Michael and Jody from the ground or inside the mausoleum, portals to other dimensions, The Tall Man in a photograph in a pawn shop turning to acknowledge Michael, Michael’s visit to a creepy clairvoyant and her blond granddaughter who visits Morningside and never returns home, the unfortunate underpinning under the ‘Cuda and clunking Jody on the foot with a hammer when Michael is trying to free himself from the car holding him down, Jody and Reggie’s little musical rock number, among other things just sort of function as Coscarelli pieces sort of functioning as a teenage boy’s long dream of adventures where he is the central figure. I always thought this was indeed a boy’s imagined fantasy about joining forces with his brother and the family friend to stop a seemingly unkillable force of evil. I love it despite the fact that I freely admit that this isn’t cohesive and a good bit of it probably makes perfect sense to Coscarelli while we are left to determine what it all means. The sphere bleeding a cohort of The Tall Man’s as a puddle of his urine is left behind to describe his horrifying response to a terrible demise is an obvious highlight. The Lady in Lavender always fascinated me…The Tall Man seems to be her and she often seductively lures guys to their eventual death. 4.5/5