Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

 Though this episode has some sketchy airplane special effects (we've come a long way since 2005), I was glad "Phantom Traveler" finally gave us a little bit on the main arc regarding this "demon mist" (that's the best way I can describe it as it is like this black, sulfuric mist that has some texture to it moving about and possessing folks who are passengers of or pilot planes this entity (or legion?) crashes)  causing mischief and mayhem. There is this moment that Dean dismisses as the demon using Sam's anguish against him while speaking through a possessed pilot on a plane endangered -- at the end during an exorcism, through Latin written in Sam and Dean's dad's diary/guide -- that it knows what murdered Jessica (Sam's murdered girlfriend from the first episode), also remarking that she's still suffering. I guess Dean could be right, that the demon can read Sam's thoughts and knows his weaknesses, using them to throw him off the ex

Some things I like, other things I didn't. The leads, especially Ben, can really make stupid decisions, like being too inquisitive for their own good. If a Jesus Crucifixion statue is guarding a closed door, maybe there is a reason. Even if you are atheist, the house is underwater and the room is probably dangerous if just because of how closed off it was. And if you see two bodies hanging from chains in that room, or you hear piano keys sound in the distance where no one is there (it seems), not too many people would stick around. And, let's be honest, Ben and Tina got more than enough footage of inside the underwater house. Look I sub to submechanophobia on Reddit so I dig underwater discoveries that once were above ground and really find locating and unearthing lost ships and planes really cool. But Ben can't seem to get enough footage of this place quite unsafe if occupied for a bit too long. I think he had enough for YouTube clicks. Clearly Tina was really ready to get

 This was the third episode of the first season, with Sam and Dean still out there looking for their father -- who is somewhere, but how to find him has proven to be quite elusive, which is sort of the point -- while "monster hunting" and looking to help people, sends them to a particular lake (a dam is leaking and soon the water will be gone) where "something" is drowning or "carrying away" victims tied to a missing child from the 70s. So the fictional Lake Manitoc in Wisconsin is the main setting, with a small town sheriff (Daniel Hugh Kelly) who has a secret as does Bill Carlton (Bruce Dawson), while those they love are either threatened or lost to a spirit using the lake where he drowned to pursue his victims. A grieving mother Sam and Dean interview gives them a historical context to go on, even as the sheriff sees through their "rangers" job disguise and warns them to leave or else. Sheriff Devins' daughter, Andrea (Amy Acker, who I hav

  I finally got around to seeing this on Shudder and I guess Found Footage will remain a viable option for the horror genre, because even when you don't reinvent the wheel, the effect of what is around the corner -- an evil presence seemingly always there inside the Abaddon Hotel as long as visitors (or folks looking to kick off a haunted house there for the Halloween season) have the morbid curiosity to show up -- can always be depended on when done right. While I thought this 2015 moc-doc doesn't necessarily feature anything of great significance story-wise that hasn't been done before, does "Hell House LLC" really need to? The creep factor of full-bodied clown doll props showing up in places besides the basement with their heads turned despite no human assistance, or cloaked figures and pale-faced, off-color eyed ghouls emerging as strobe lights go one and off or when lights are turned on by a camera man named Paul, a bit of a goof who loves to annoy his boss,

  While Jessica's murder remains quite important to Sam, and the pursuit of Sam and Dean's father is significant to them as well, the Winchester brothers use their dad's diary as sort of a possible road map to find him. "Supernatural" is definitely a fun alternative to "The X Files" even as the two share certain similarities. However, "Supernatural" certainly splinters off from "The X Files" in terms of their focus on God, Lucifer, demons, and angels, etc. "Wendigo" really feels like an X-Files episode, though. Venturing into the Colorado Blackwater Ridge, Sam and Dean looking to see if their dad was possibly out there, researching his diary, realizing that the creature that could be snatching folks and killing them is a Wendigo, a cannibal having eaten from different types of people for so long it has developed the ability to move fast, barely be visible in the light, grab you immediately, claw you, keep some of you in a da

 The Mindy explains requel rules with Randy's shrine behind her and watching Stab when his character has been remade are touches that I really appreciated. I knew the moment Dewey got in the car to go with Sam, he was the one. God, poor guy really took it on the chin from Wes who retorted about what motive Dewey would have. I think the film gave Sidney and Gale just enough to make our hearts for them flutter, but I think enough characters of the newbies remain to retire them. I think the franchise is in good hands with Sam and Tara. The touch with "Mental Phantom" Billy Loomis was very interesting. And my favorite kill was the slow knife through the face. And I have to do it as if I was an excited fangirl screeching...KIRBY!!!  One of the things I was hoping for, and the film confirmed, was that the director team of Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett stayed true and respected Wes and his memory. Even naming Minnette ("Goosebumps"/"Don't Breathe") Wes --

 I will be seeing Scream (2022) FINALLY tomorrow with my wife and daughter. Really psyched about it since I've had to avoid a lot of spoiler videos and articles about the film. I've had to avoid reading WIKI when monitoring the Box office and such. I revisited all four other films the past few weeks and thought I would post a January mega thread of Letterboxd content posted. I actually prefer 5cream . --  Scream 4 When I went to see this film in 2011, something was missing. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe 2011 just wasn't the right time. Or maybe the film just needed to find its audience. Not every film hits on arrival but needs time to breathe, to hang around and find its fam. I don't think it was any fault of Campbell's, or Arquette's, or Cox's. Sidney still kicks ass and remains steel and strength despite everything thrown at her. Gale still has the ability to go after the story, the determination and piss and vinegar to swap attitude and get to a po

  The gist of it: 1974, East London infirmary, the trade union and government are at each other's throats about better wages, using a coal shortage to hopefully gain leverage, resulting in electricity blackouts at night. A trainee nurse with a good heart that means well, Valerie (Rose Williams), starts work at the hospital, seemingly making enemies despite her best efforts to behave and do her best. A matron (Diveen Henry) sees her as an immediate threat and a nurse on her floor, "Babs" (Emma Rigby), warns her not to mess with a certain pediatric doctor she has an eye on. Because she is also pretty, Val is also seen as a threat to other women, even though she never warrants it or asks for it. Val was an orphan who never knew her parents, of a certain Our Lady's, very religious. She also has a fear of the dark and seems to have  paranormal experiences in the hospital...or is it all a trick of the mind? Did something happen in the past that manifests itself on this part

You know, this first episode of the series (that went for fifteen seasons) really sets up basically with something evil that envelopes with fire the brothers Dean and Sam's mother when they were just kids (Sam, a baby in his crib), sending their father on a mission of vengeance, having trained his sons "to be warriors". While Dean is all in with his dad's "hunting", Sam wants to be a lawyer and have a normal life with Jessica (Adrianne Palicki; "The Orville"), who looks mighty yummy in a tight smurfs shirt and athletic shorts (and a slutty nurse for a Halloween party), preparing for law school. When their father goes missing, Dean enlists a reluctant Sam to help him try and find him, the two encountering the "woman in white" spirit who shows up at a certain location to seduce male motorists, preying on them for cheating, "commandeering" their cars against their will, driving them to the bridge and burying her fingers into their

While I'm glad I got the chance to see this, it takes fucking forever for Peter Jason's "mad as a hatter" revenge-seeking ex-husband to Carrie Snodgrass to get from the mental hospital he was committed by her to his former home in LA. Jacqueline Giroux has the misfortune of being assigned by her agency to babysit Snodgrass' little monster son (the director's kid), playing non-stop magic tricks and ghoulish pranks on her throughout Halloween night as trick-or-treaters continue to stop by the house for candy. Jason takes the wig and white uniform of a nurse, including adding makeup to his face in order to disguise himself for a majority of his trip to LA, actually robbing Paul Bartel (a bum in an alley!) of his clothes through a threat of violence (a knife he stole from a kitchen in a diner, the counterman with the coffee actually the director, Graver). This film is like 80 minutes but it just feels so much longer than it is. Since so much of the film is Chris G

This is the third time I've watched this, actually. I was introduced to it by Joe Bob's Halloween special (followed after "Haunt"), the one during the beginnings of the Pandemic. I watched it the second time on Tubi, and this viewing is a return to the Halloween Hideaway special, so I could enjoy how wacky this film is following those Joe Bob trivia intervals with Darcy freaking out over the Ouija Board, and our iconic host dressed as a hokey Dracula. Hy Pyke really gets into the grandpa satanist role, complete with the finger horns hand gesture, while Katina Garner is the daughter he ickily fancies with incestuous desire. Killing her husband, Pyke eyes her snarling, dour-faced, metal-head son, a tall, intimidating, easily manipulated thug to join him "officially" in the barn-gathering Devil-worshipping cult. Oh, and there is this dream rock music video that just pops up in the film for...reasons? There is a Halloween party with a stripper and this standup c

I realized something when watching Halloween Kills in the theater: this validates what makes Halloween II so special. The opening prior to the meat of the film in Haddonfield hospital where Michael moves about the neighborhood like a phantom lurking in the dark, emerging in the light for us and victims to see, but seemingly only noticed, for the most part, when The Shape decides to make his presence felt. When David Gordon Green takes us back to 1978 in his film, I come to understand that no matter how much multiverse alternate retcons might disrupt and/or eliminate timelines altogether, the work Dean Cundy mastered in Halloween II cannot be erased...if anything, his legend is only magnified. And with how this new timeline seems to be divisive and polarizing, Halloween II seems to just gain further respect and renown. While I like certain aspects of both Kills and Zombie's H2, I seem to just appreciate how all these iterations and updates, reboots and retcons look to improve on thi

 For my Letterboxd Saturday and early Sunday: I did revisit the Joe Bob Briggs' Halloween Hoedown version of this film; however, I fastforwarded through a majority of Joe's interview with Blum. While Blum and Green were promoting the polarizing "Halloween Kills" on the Joe Bob show, his attention on "Terror Train" seemed to interfere with their backstory. I don't know: the marriage of Joe Bob hosting this film and getting all of Blum and Green promoting themselves and their film in sort of takes from what makes The Last Drive-In so special. I would think what should have happened is one of Blumhouse's films should have been presented so "Terror Train" didn't have to share custody of Job Bob's attention. Jamie Lee sharing screen time with David Copperfield and Ben Johnson in the same movie is some sort of pop culture moment in time that at least gets "Terror Train" an extra star and a half. Seriously, I think Doc prefers Mo

 Included with fresh thoughts on the film are old user comments from December 24th when I watched "New Year's Evil" along with "Christmas Evil" (1980) in a great double feature on Turner Classic Movies. I really want to actually watch this film some time on December 31st. Either I'm at some party or watching the Twilight Zone Marathon. While I'll never champion "New Year's Evil" as some dandy of a slasher film, I do consider it fun, in a time capsule sort of way. I was putting together a few comments for Letterboxd, but as always I started to go a little long and decided to add the complete long-form review of early morning January 7th on the blog.  User comments: I was very fortunate, unlike a lot of my 80s peers, to see "New Years Evil" on Turner Classics this morning (honestly, I think this film is best viewed after Midnight) instead of some terrible, badly beaten up VHS copy that would be incredibly difficult to find unless yo

The previous morning "Long Distance Call" was on Pluto TV. I didn't get to a post until early Thursday morning right before "Walking Distance". What was refreshing to see is the Ronny Howard scene not cut unlike SYFY. Complete episodes, with a few commercials, on Pluto TV thanks to Paramount. I recently picked up Paramount+ for my son so I noticed Twilight Zone will be leaving HULU so I assume it will be exclusive to Paramount's streaming service. While I won't be able to be an avid Pluto TV watcher so late because of work, seeing the show on the free platform is really cool. Even included before the closing credits is Rod Serling's bit letting you know what comes on "next week". I was hoping that the show was available uncut on the platform, so confirmation on that was a relief. One comment on "Walking Distance": I still think this episode is second to none among the entire series in regards to an actor's closeup and just the

 On Pluto TV's "Classic TV Drama" channel, they now show The Twilight Zone (currently only the first and second seasons are available). Well I was dozing on and off and woke up to "Long Distance Call" at the beginning. Sigh, I just don't like the video tape drudgery some of these episodes suffered under. I think "Long Distance Call" and "The Lateness of the Hour" really could have been solid episodes but the quality of the video taping process just makes them so ugly and look like soap opera shows of the era. Watching "Long Distance Call", the story about a toy phone used as a supernatural communication device between the deceased grandmother and her son's boy (Billy Mumy) throwing parents into an emotional wreck after attempted suicides by the son, on Pluto TV still felt like the perfect match. I keep wondering if once "Twilight Zone" has an exclusive home at Paramount+, they give the show its own channel on Pluto

Rod Serling introduces A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain 2:20am – On Thursday We Leave For Home* 3:10am – A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain** 3:35am – You Drive*** 4:00am – The Self-Improvement of Salvatore Ross**** 4:30am – Spur of the Moment***** 6:00am – Mute *While I totally see the point of the story – that Benteen is losing his community and tries desperately to hold on while most of them are ready to go their separate ways once reaching earth through the assistance of a rescue mission – I really have a hard time truly accepting Benteen would actually stay behind on a miserable, hot, dry, sweltering, lacking in food and water barren rock while those who were once with him decided they were ready for a much better life back on the planet of their ancestors…where they belong. Benteen was actually losing his status as some Leader Supreme, his word was gospel, his feelings were followed, his orders seemingly met. And here comes a rescue mission, commanded by a reasonable man