October score

I thought about just ignoring my tally of horror film watching for this past October's DVD Talk contest. I really didn't feel like typing it up and the more I looked over what I managed to fit into those 31 days the less impressed with my score I was. I didn't watch a single film in a language other than English. I didn't watch a single film starring Vincent Price. Not a single giallo? How did I watch nothing with Jamie Lee Curtis in a month I almost always check out either HALLOWEEN or its first two sequels? All my plans to rewatch RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD came to naught. Even my listing of two of the Universal Mummy movies from the 1940s as sequels to Karloff's THE MUMMY are a dubious choice since they aren't really sequels even though they do use footage from the 1932 classic. I didn't even rewatch one of my favorite modern horror sequels JASON X to tick off the 'takes place in space' slot on the list.

Did the vacation to Disney World really cut so much of my October horror movie watching time? No. That's not what happened. I just followed my ongoing trend of trying to see lots of movies I've never seen before rather than actually planning my viewing. And that lends itself to the 'what's exciting me right now' type of movie watching that I find so much fun. Why else would I have wasted my time watching RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS in October? Or, really, ever?

Oh, well. I think I'll try it again next year. It's a fun game- especially if you don't take it too seriously.

The DVDTalk October Horror Challenge Expanded Checklist/Bingo Card

Watch one film from every decade of film history.
--- 1890 -
--- 1900 -
--- 1910 -
--- 1920 -
--- 1930 – THE RAVEN
--- 1940 – THE MUMMY’S GHOST
--- 1950 - ?
--- 1960 - ?
--- 1970 – THE BAT PEOPLE
--- 1980 – WAXWORKS
--- 1990 - ?
--- 2000 – SPLINTER

Watch a film for each rating:
--- Pre MPAA-THE MUMMY
--- G - DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
--- PG – SHOCK WAVES
--- PG-13 -
--- R – TRICK ‘R TREAT
--- NC-17 -
--- X (not porn; several horror films were rated X) -
--- Unrated (post-MPAA) -

Watch films in at least three formats (DVD, BD, HD DVD, Laserdisc, TV, online, UMD, theater, iPod, etc).
--- First format, (theater), (THE FINAL DESTINATION).
--- Second format, (DVD), (THE HANGING WOMAN).
--- Third format, (BD), (TRICK ‘R TREAT).

Watch a film starring:
--- Bela Lugosi – THE RAVEN
--- Lon Chaney Sr. -
--- Boris Karloff – THE MUMMY
--- Lon Chaney Jr. – THE MUMMY’S GHOST
--- Vincent Price -
--- Peter Cushing – SHOCK WAVES
--- Christopher Lee - DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
--- Robert Englund -
--- Bruce Campbell -
--- Jamie Lee Curtis -

Watch films in at least two languages other than English.
--- First language, (insert language), (insert title).
--- Second language, (insert language), (insert title).

Watch a film in each of the following subgenres/types:
--- Vampire - (insert film title here)
--- Frankenstein -
--- Werewolf - TRICK ‘R TREAT
--- Mummy – THE MUMMY
--- Invisible Man -
--- Ghost/haunting – DEATH SHIP
--- Witchcraft/satanic/religious -
--- Zombie - ZOMBIELAND
--- Slasher/psycho/homicidal maniac - BODYCOUNT
--- Monster/creature feature/Godzilla – THE BAT PEOPLE
--- Documentary -
--- Musical -
--- Spoof/comedy -
--- Revenge – SUGAR HILL
--- Killer/evil doll -
--- Killer/evil animal -
--- Killer/evil child -
--- Giallo -
--- J horror -
--- MST3K/rifftrax/CT -
--- film and its remake -
--- based on a video game -
--- based on a novel – THE KEEP
--- directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis or Uwe Boll or Ulli Lommel -
--- won an Academy Award -- any category -
--- silent film -
--- Criterion version film -
--- with commentary -
--- film and at least two of its sequels – THE MUMMY, THE MUMMY’S CURSE, & GHOST
--- anthology film - TRICK ‘R TREAT
--- takes place on a holiday – TRICK ‘R TREAT
--- takes place in space -
--- takes place on or under the sea – DEATH SHIP
--- animated film -
--- called "Night of ..." -
--- called "Return of ..." -
--- called "Revenge of ..." -
--- called "Attack of ..." -
--- with the words "Living Dead" in the title -

(One film could fill multiple items. Example: Dracula would fill one for decade, rating, actor, vampire, based on novel, and maybe others as well.)

MST3K short film

Let's lighten things up a bit.......

Poster art for movies in my 'To View' pile

QUATERMASS 2 web site

If you go here you'll find an amazing thing- an entire website dedicated to the original 1955 TV serial and subsequent 1957 Hammer movie version of Nigel Kneale's QUATERMASS 2. As stated on the home page "Quatermass 2 is considered by many to be the lesser of the Quatermass stories, we think differently." Regardless of whether you think its the best or the least of the tales this is a great site packed with information including a production rundown, synopsis, info on the cast & crew, poster art, images from the comic book adaptation and lots more. For fans of Quatermass its a must view.

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1963) restoration!

From the news section of the DVD Savant page comes the welcome and unexpected news that THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS is being lovingly restored. Film 'restorationist' Mike Hyatt has spent a lot of the last ten years picking tens of thousands of tiny particles out of the soft emulsion of the original negative- by hand! Last week he screened a 35mm print of his work in Hollywood. That's all fine and great but the good news for everyone else is that "Hyatt holds substantial rights to the picture and is hoping for an eventual DVD and Blu-ray release as well as making restored prints available for theatrical screenings." That means an eventual disc of this fantastic science fiction classic I can bring home and watch over and over again. I can't wait!

What I Watched In October

I didn't get in nearly as many horror films last month as I wanted. The trip to Florida cut into movie watching time but that isn't going to bother me in the long run. I didn't get out to the theater much either but there wasn't too much out there I wanted to see. I was kind of curious about Rob Zombie's latest Halloween disaster but after his remake two years ago the idea of giving him more money made my stomach turn. Maybe on video. With a lot of beer in my system. Maybe. Train wrecks can be fun to laugh at while drunk and H2 has 'tunnel crash' written all over it.

I spent a lot of time catching up to 70s & 80s movies I had never seen before and enjoyed doing that. Several duds but the gems were fun to finally see. Wish I had fit in more Hammer and at least one Vincent Price film, though.


RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS (1983)- 2 (abysmal Italian fantasy/action/thriller sci-fi mess)
ZOMBIELAND (2009)- 7 (good fun)
DEATH SHIP (1980)- 5 (seems to be missing parts to keep it to 90 minutes)
WAXWORKS (1988)- 4 (too unfocused and unfunny)
THE HOUSE OF FEAR (1939)- 6 (not bad mystery/scare pic)
BODYCOUNT (1987)- 4 (Deodato’s sloppy backwoods slasher)
SHOCK WAVES (1977)- 6 (rewatch)
MOH: DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE (2005)- 9 (rewatch)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981)- 5 (glad to finally see this)
THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009)- 5 (OK fourth installment in 3D)
THE MUMMY (1932)- 6 (still the least of the Universal classic monster films of the 30s)
TRICK R TREAT (2008)- 9 (excellent)
G.I. JOE (2009)- 3 (not as bad as I expected but awfully stupid anyway)
AMITYVILLE III: THE DEMON (1983)- 3 (pretty flat)
THE MUMMY’S GHOST (1944)- 6 (rewatch)
SUGAR HILL (1974)- 5 (only fair blaxploitation horror)
DAMIEN: OMEN II (1978)- 7 (rewatch)
THE BAT PEOPLE (1974)- 3 (mostly dull creature feature with an interesting ending)
THE MUMMY’S CURSE (1944)- 5 (rewatch)
SEIZURE! (1974)- 6 (interesting Faust variation)
THE HANGING WOMAN (1973)- 7 (excellent Eurotrash nonsense)
G-FORCE (2009)- 5 (predictable and not as funny as it should be but better than Transformers)
THE STEPFATHER (1987)- 7 (well done thriller)
SPLINTER (2008)- 7 (good modern monster film)
THE RAVEN (1936)- 8 (rewatch)
GRADUATION DAY (1981) - 2 (miserable slasher)
THE KEEP (1984)- 5 (rewatch)
DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968)- 5 (not great but I still love it) (rewatch)

November already?

Still coming down off the Halloween high so here are a few nice posters to look at.