Halloween Diary - Addams Family films and The Lost Boys


 I did sort of hit that wall I typically run into by mid October where the enthusiasm wanes just a bit due to overload. This year has been atypical because I have yet to watch any Universal or Hammer or Amicus or Corman horror films, the brunt of which almost always get plenty of time at the very beginning of the month. It could be the Halloween and Scream films, for sure. But as is any year, I'm a year long horror fan, not just a horror fan in October. I had the television on Paramount and just let it run as today's Sunday marathon had "Beetlejuice" (I just got the Blu-Ray last year, so I hope to watch it in its entirety sometime in the remaining two weeks), "The Addams Family", "The Addams Family Values", and "The Lost Boys". Morticia Addams received my favorite lines in the two films from director Sonnenfeld, and Wednesday Addams and Pugley's "Nope, we aren't having Thanksgiving" sabotage of a camp play where they burn down the set (not to mention the first film's gushing stage blood and wounds that horrified and sprayed all over the front row of parents at a stage play only the Addams' clan would cheer with great admiration) and rope bind the pretty blond camp counselor favorite to a stake (!) stole both films for me. But both films also were really heavy on focusing on Christopher Lloyd's Fester with the other characters fighting for every moment they could get. Any time Morticia gets to have dialogue that reverses what a heroine would believe is acceptable, I laughed almost every time. And she had a shit-ton of chemistry with Raul Julia, who really leaned in to his Gomez. There is not even the slightest attempt to shy away from the camp, and I think these films are all the better for it. While I might have preferred the first film to the second, mainly because Fester spent most of his time at the Addams' mansion instead of fending off Black Widow's (Joan Cusack, really pushing the "spoiled brat reacts to not getting exactly what she wants by blowing up her parents and killing her husbands" as far as possible. Obviously, this was our real first look at Christina Ricci, and she didn't disappoint. Her smile is wonderfully scary...nothing good was going to come after that smile. "Beetlejuice" I caught late, but I plan to run this with "Ghostbusters" coming up soon in the month, perhaps including "The 'Burbs" (1989). "The Lost Boys" was inevitably going to be on my television, it was only a matter of when not if. You watch any favorite from your childhood, the lack of words is understandable. What's said has been repeated, perhaps in different ways according to different perspectives, but its value as an important part of a person's young life could be overstated if you aren't of that particular fanbase who heaps praise on it. I could see why there might be a collective groan from those who are just fucking tired of hearing about "The Lost Boys". And if you are those vocal supporters of "Near Dark" who say it is better than "The Lost Boys", I love both films, so I'm not stressing that opinion. But "The Lost Boys" is just a favorite that serves as a film I can depend on to take me into my happy place. We all have certain films that feel as if you are spending some time with old friends...that is a description I always felt lent itself to "The Lost Boys". I try not to mention it too much on the blog, and even if I watch it once a year, I don't want to overpraise it as a masterpiece. I never thought it was that at all. Do I love it? Sure. But it was always an entertainment, similar to "The Monster Squad" or "Night of the Creeps". It has characters I thought were cool, was set at a fun location, and had a shit-load of flash that gets the film plenty of detractors who don't fall under its spell, and never did. I was just one of those who, as a ten year old, caught it on HBO at my uncle's house on a Friday night and fell lock, stock, and barrel for it.

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