Saturday's Halloween Smörgåsbord.

It's the Great Pumpkin!

 Whether it was Rachel pissed at Brady for wanting to find out how the sheriff's daughter "does it by the book" while Michael, having lived through a hell of a fire, aims to locate and kill his niece after leaving an ambulance a bloody mess for Loomis and law enforcement to find, or Devon Sawa contending with a demonically possessed hand going on a killing spree (that includes his parents, best stoner friends, and students of his high school during a costume Halloween party) without his permission, the Saturday before Halloween had quite the eclectic schedule this year. I wanted to make sure I had a busy Saturday because I am only watching two movies on Halloween night.

 My daughter got to pick several of the films for the day, and my son picked one. He was talking about dressing as Shaggy from Scooby Doo next year, and we got to talking about the two movies. He wanted to watch Monsters Unleashed, and I found it on HBO Max. 

Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers is currently on the Shudder "It Came from Shudder" channel on their streaming service in rotation and as I was sleeping on and off early Saturday morning into the early Saturday afternoon, the film made one pass and I kept it on during its next pass. Halloween (1978) has been added to the rotation, as has the fifth film from 1989, Ginger Snaps (2000), Haunt (2019), and Day of the Dead (1985). I woke up to find members of the remaining military under asshole Pilato being surrounded by zombies and torn apart. 

Each time Halloween was on, it was right around Bob being stuck to the wall with Michael's butcher knife, Michael wearing the "ghost sheet" with Lynda amused until who she thought was Bob is anything but, Michael strangling her with the telephone cord, and Laurie confronting Michael with the violent results. Other than that portion I conked back out. 

I did wake up enough to catch a good bit of the excellent Ginger Snaps but my tired mind exhausted from work wanted to go sleepy-time. Watching what I did of Ginger Snaps just reminded me how damn good it is, so I'll be giving that one a full revisit very soon. 

Haunt (2019) was a pleasant surprise when I got to watch it not too long ago, and this feels like a perfect addition to a Halloween weekend schedule. I had intended to partner it with a film often talked about next to it: Hell Fest (2018). This was a month where plans changed often and there were times where my typical enthusiasm to pile on films in constant marathons just wasn't quite there. Haunt has a lot of head violence. Shotguns, hammers, and the like just exploding through heads like melons. It is a beautiful thing. The survivor is an abuse victim who finds inner strength and the will to live, not saying a whole lot...Katie Stevens is a revelation to me in this film. It is all there on her face throughout her struggles. She's so good. And I appreciated Beck and Woods really giving her the chance to get some revenge by using the tactics the lead killer had been against her friends, with the irony of his own traps taking him out just such righteous justice. 

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) is just totally devoted to kids. My son (and daughter, who joined us when she realized what we were watching) just gets a kick out of it, and both are teenagers now but were at just the right age to love the sheer silliness of the sequel to probably an even sillier 2002 film. The monster throwbacks brought to life by Tim Blake Nelson's mad scientist (getting revenge on Mystery Inc for putting him in prison) are very dated CGI effects that I thought were amazing at the time when it was in theaters. I went with my wife to see both of these films, actually. The first was before my daughter was born and the second was right before my son was born, so 2002 - 2004 was a precious time to me because I was a new father having to grow the fuck up. I went down the Letterboxd rabbit hole with these movies and found all the love for both rather shocking. Then I started reading from these reviews and the adoration left me realizing just how important nostalgia is. When you are young and those moments of fun just stay with you. I totally get that. There are people who can't fathom why I, to this day, join that chorus of love for The Lost Boys and The Goonies...they were adults of the time lost as to why kids love those movies. I think the decision to grow the hair out for Fred and Shaggy bothered the fuck out of me because I was that kid who watched Scooby Doo cartoons religiously in the 80s...the look of those characters is just important to us. But Linda Cardellini, even when they try to make her as nerdy and lame as possible, is just too sexy to truly inhabit Velma as effectively as perhaps those involved in the making of these two films wanted. She can adopt the voice, lose her glasses and fumble for them, wear the orange knee-high socks and tap about in her orange shoes, and wear the distinctive hair cut as we remember Velma, but Cardellini is working against who we know her as outside that persona...she really has to put on a performance and get us to fully commit to her as Velma. Prinze and Gellar are pretty much themselves in costume. But Lillard as Shaggy nails it...he's a treasure as the zoinks dunderheaded dolt who means well but makes so many mistakes as Scoob is always at his side while the others try to solve the case of a museum's missing pieces, taken by Nelson (in "Alicia Silverstone costume") to develop monsters to oppose Mystery Inc. But Monsters Unleashed is loaded with special effects. It's overload, really. I think all the effects are there to help disguise very little story, while also allowing Shaggy and Scooby to get into as much trouble as possible. Seth Green was in this as a love interest for Velma, while also a potential suspect, the curator of the museum who might have something to hide...a possible hero worship for Nelson. 

Speaking of Green, he was one of two stoner friends for Devon Sawa, getting a bottle stabbed in his forehead, returning as a zombie. Elden Henson loses his head (literally) when Sawa's possessed evil hand tosses a saw blade that cuts through the neck with great precision. The highlight is an 18 year old Alba as Sawa's romantic interest really taken to him despite every reason not to be. Her in an angel costume dancing to "I Wanna Be Sedated" as sang by Offspring at the Halloween school party is particularly something I want to remember forever. The gore in Idle Hands (1999) is really the film's main point of interest, I believe. The stoner comedy shtick has never been my thing, to be honest, but it is there in abundance if that is an appeal to those who find that sense of humor to their liking. Zombies smoking bongs certainly will crack some folks up. This does seem to have a cult following. It was on cable a lot in the early 2000s. The film has had 20 years to build a favorable group of reviewers who will be fond of its go-all-out nature. Sawa really seemed to be following Ash from Evil Dead II (1987) with his animated hand working against him. This has plenty of zombie humor, too. Henson's issues with his severed head and Green adapting to a bottle in his head provide some undead humor, for sure. It is all absurd. 

Speaking of gore, Ginger Snaps really popped me with the disemboweled dogs with lots of spilled guts. Isabelle's attack and Perkins trying and failing to help her was perfectly realized, including the van ramming right into the beast as they flee from it. But Isabelle's transformation and Perkins trying to navigate around the tragic results of her "change" is fantastic. What a damn good movie. And you can find Ginger Snaps all over the place now. I know it was on a bunch when I was 22 years old, but I think it has a ton of potential to gain even more love with any exposure it gets as streaming services are discovered by young horror fans looking for something more modern. Films like Idle Hands and Ginger Snaps are from a particular era and wear that time of 1999 and 2000 in almost every frame. That might actually be of interest to fresh audiences.

But I also made sure to get old favorites. As I do every year, I never fail to mention It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966). I'm glad my daughter watched it with me this year. We were both amused by Sally's increasing frustrations and anger at Linus for this long wait producing no results as he awaits the Great Pumpkin, sure to bring them treats of great sustenance. What a disappointing no-show! Nothing but that damned beagle making an appearance, with Snoopy giggling at Linus' mistake and Sally's outburst. Sally missed the Halloween Party and trick or treats...and you feel all of that in her lashing-out at Linus. Charlie getting rocks instead of candy...it might seem a bit "whatever" to some viewers, but I can't help but get a kick out of it because poor Chuck always seems to get the raw end of the deal.

 

I also revisited the Disney, Bing Crosby-narrated The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949), with Ichabod Crane, the schoolmaster who loved his food (made by mothers of students he used his charm to appeal to) and refused to give up on the beauty of the Sleep Hollow, despite every attempt by hunky (and sneaky) Brom Bones to be a thorn in his side, with the reverse happening. When every thing seemed to be going his way, Crane had the setback of riding his horse through Headless Horseman territory in the dark of night through a terrifying woods, just about out of harms's way across a bridge. That damned flying jack'o-lantern on fire thrown from Headless Horseman's hand seemed to truly catch Ichabod right before all was well. This is about the animation, how Ichabod looks with his pointy nose, lanky frame, bony legs, but with this attitude of cool and confidence I truly admire when you'd think his looks would be considered a detriment...I think this should be a permanent part of most's viewing schedule in October. I own it as part of a double feature on a Blu-Ray, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), along with The Wind in the Willows, featuring Mr. Toad's unfortunate life challenges. I am really glad to own this Blu-Ray. Both stories are a lot of fun, but I do think "Sleepy Hollow" is the prize of the two. The Brom Bones fireside story that spooks Ichabod is a treat, but the horror fan in me absolutely cherishes the final ride through the woods as the Horseman arrives. Just the horse Ichabod rides has me in stitches.

My daughter loves Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and when chose this to watch today, I still say to myself, "Why?! Just why?" But I love my daughter and so I grit my teeth and get through the damn movie. But Freddy breaking the fourth wall by looking at us while committing to his slasher slapstick diminished each and every experience I have with the film. I enjoyed the hell out of it when I was like 13, but those early Nightmare films just stick in the mind when I watch Freddy's Dead, knowing what the "nightmare man" used to me. I have a theory, though: Freddy, as he has been killing teenagers all those years, began to have too much fun, which is why he goes from just being a savage psychopath, playfully tormenting his prey to this jokester having too much fun within dreamland.