Halloween 2018

The Ritual (2017)

Saw this on Netflix. A good cross between The Descent and The Blair Witch Project (though not shot in the found footage format). Four Englishmen take a hiking trip in the remote hills of Sweden to honor the tragic killing of a friend. When they elect to take a "shortcut" through the woods (as one of the characters warns, "if a shortcut was a shortcut, it wouldn't be called a shortcut, it would be called a route"), they stumble across a pagan cult worshiping some ancient beast as a God. For a while, it seems mostly like all the baggage is just what the friends bring with them into the forest, but there really is something out there, and you do eventually get a good look at it in the end (in a climax that had me quoting Princess Mononoke: "I'm going to show you how to kill a god"). The cinematography is breathtaking - the beautiful setting goes a long way in establishing an atmosphere that is genuinely instilled with fear. I recommend it.

Temple (2017)

Three Japan-o-philes visit the land of the rising sun. The girlfriend is doing her thesis on religious studies. The boyfriend (who is kind of a prick) is mostly along for the ride. The third wheel is actually the most interesting character, and the only one who can speak Japanese. They quickly and conveniently stumble upon clues leading them to what must be the most haunted temple in Japan. There's a potentially interesting story in there about six kids who went missing, and the monk who was found living in the temple, but that's not what this movie is about - that's just background fodder for a gimmicky ghost story. Unfortunately, the acting is a bit wooden, and the writing leaves something to be desired. The creature(s?) are creepy, but the nighttime chase is just too dark (and there are too many shots pointed down the barrel of a flashlight, as opposed to the other way around). There's a novelty (for me, at least) to occult symbolism being associated with oriental spiritualism (as opposed to Christianity or paganism), but the various story threads don't really line up into a logical framework beyond "ghosts are creepy, right?" in the end (which came sooner than I expected). I'd like to see this story told with more substance and less fluff.

The Devil's Candy (2015)

Now this movie has style - and I do love a movie with style. Its taste in music is so good (a heavy metal cross-section of Pantera, Slayer, Metallica, even Sunn O))) - not music I typically listen to, but great for setting the mood of a horror movie), even the "trailer" music on Netflix had me hopping over to Youtube for more. The setup is recurrent of The Amityville Horror - a nice family moves into a house with a dark past, and their lives subsequently take a dark turn - but with a strong serial killer flavor - starring an older-than-I-remember Pruitt Taylor Vince. The cold open is so captivating - a Lizzie Borden/Jim Morrison singing The End-type situation, where a man gets up in the middle of the night and plays power chords on his electric guitar to drown out the Satanic voice in his head - I was instantly sold.

The protagonist family - a metalhead slash painter, his wife, and their teenage (also metalhead) daughter - are attractive and likable, and the movie is largely free of dumb clichés. When the Satanic element begins to manifest itself through art - the father's painting, provided by the real-life artist who's worked on some of Sunn O)))'s album covers - it's glorious. Did I mention this movie has style? It's terrifying - albeit, in less of a supernatural way than one might hope (on that note, it's telling that the killer watches a lot of fire-and-brimstone televangelist preachers; it's not hard to imagine it fueling the delusions of an impaired mind - though the preacher thinks he's helping people, by preying on their fears, he's only magnifying the horrors in the world; it is the height of irony that he, himself, is among the worldly devils he warns about) - culminating in a harrowing climax, but damn, it's not often that I have this much fun watching a horror movie! It just goes to show how powerful a movie can be when it's not just trying to tell a story, but aspiring to be a work of art in its own right. It's no wonder the music and painting plays such a critical role. This is the kind of movie I'd be proud to display on my shelf. (Even Black Phillip makes a cameo!)

Apostle (2018)

At over two hours long, this movie is an epic journey, with a plot that strongly resembles The Wicker Man. Around the turn of the century (last century), a man is sent undercover in his ailing father's stead to infiltrate a goddess-worshiping island cult and rescue his kidnapped sister. The first half plays a bit like Colonia in a colonial village with a medieval sense of justice. But at the halfway point (and I suppose this is a bit of a spoiler), it takes a very dark turn, with some supernatural elements, as the cult begins to implode from within. Most of the horror is human-generated, however, and it gets pretty gruesome. It's a sleek production, with good writing, solid leads, and ace cinematography. It's undoubtedly a tense viewing experience, but if that doesn't bother you, it's very well done.

"The promise of the divine is but an illusion."
"God is pain... is suffering... is betrayal."

P (2005)

The granddaughter of a witch leaves the Thai countryside to seek a living in Bangkok, where she uses her supernatural talents to navigate the sex trade - and get herself into trouble, when she loses control of her powers and a bloodthirsty monster is let loose on the city. It's fascinating to see different cultures take on particular subjects - like witchcraft - to see the similarities and differences in how they're interpreted across cultures. True to Bangkok's reputation, this is as much an erotic film as it is a horror film (and I have no complaints about that). In fact, it feels like three movies in one - a gritty, country-girl-meets-city-life coming-of-age drama gives way to a flesh-eating night stalker thriller, that eventually evolves into a Thai version of The Exorcist! Plus, it deserves an award for most captivating ending credits sequence - this film really knows how to keep the audience engaged through the credits. ;-)

Haunted (2018)

This is a short series available on Netflix - I view it as a sort of modern analog to Sightings. Six stories told in bite-size, 20-30 minute episodes, with dramatic re-enactments. Obviously, you can take "the following is a true story" with a grain of salt, but since none of these stories is designed to prove or disprove the existence of paranormal phenomena (this isn't science, this is entertainment), you might as well suspend your disbelief and take them at face value - they're certainly presented that way, told by the victims and eyewitnesses themselves in first person. Most of the tales lack a satisfying conclusion, but I think that contributes to the scariness, by leaving things hanging out there. Fair warning: you might want to watch this one with the lights on.

Here's what you can expect: in the first episode, a man is h(a)unted by a vengeful ghost, in a setup reminiscent of It Follows. The second episode is the story of the kids who grew up with a devil-worshipping serial killer father. Episode three takes a few pages from the Poltergeist playbook. Episode four is the most positive episode (relatively speaking), about a medium who awakens his gift after being contacted by three kids who died in a well. The fifth episode is your requisite alien abduction episode. And in episode six, a teenage girl's deadbeat boyfriend gifts her a stolen gravestone, so she dumps him and shacks up with the demon that's attached to it. (That description's not a fair reflection of the tone of the episode, but it's not inaccurate, and I couldn't resist describing it that way).

Discussion: it's almost more fascinating trying to think up a psychological explanation for these experiences*. I mean, assuming they're not fabricated whole cloth - obviously, I don't believe in ghosts and aliens (anymore), but I believe that these people (or, if they're actors, then others like them) have had experiences that defy conventional explanation. (To quote Scully from The X-Files, I believe that they believe - doubting their explanations isn't the same thing as denying their emotional experiences). I think it will be fascinating somewhere down the line, when we have a better grasp of how the human brain functions, to explore the physiological (and/or environmental) factors** that lead to things like hearing sounds and voices, seeing apparitions, etc. Just having had an episode of sleep paralysis once in my life, I've experienced the unbelievably realistic delusions the human mind can conjure when it's not functioning correctly, and the intense feelings (especially sheer terror) that can go along with that. Take mere suggestibility as a start. I don't believe in these things - these entities - yet thinking about them is enough to cause a palpable reaction of fear (accompanied by such physiological symptoms as goosebumps) in my mind and body. To quote The X-Files again, we have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception, yet we somehow brazenly declare that "seeing is believing".

*When some of the people in this show say things like "houses aren't haunted, people are haunted", or that spirits are "attached" to them, or when one person in a household experiences a lot of paranormal activity but others don't... this all could be interpreted as one person being "psychically open" or "empathically gifted" or some such, but it suggests to me the possibility that these could be the manifestations of an impaired mind (or an enhanced one, depending on your perspective).

**In both genetics and conditioning - as reinforced by The Devil's Candy, it always seems to be those with direct exposure to religious mythology (not always in the form of devotion - sometimes it's "inflicted" upon them by others) that interpret these experiences in such archetypal ways. To provide an example of this phenomenon, a schizophrenic who hears voices or feels presences will be more likely to interpret them as ghosts or demons if he's been taught to believe in things like pure evil and the immortal soul.

Tales of Halloween (2015)

It's fun to watch scary shows and horror movies during October, but I always like it when I get a chance to watch something that captures the true essence of Halloween - costume parties and jack o' lanterns and trick 'r treaters - on the holiday itself. Especially when I don't get a chance to get out there myself (and not being a kid anymore, that kind of depends on the whims of other families). That's one of the things I like about the early Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons. That's also part of what makes the slasher classic Halloween such a perennial favorite. So I saved Tales of Halloween for October 31st - an anthology of ten (very) loosely connected stories that occur on the night of All Hallow's Eve, very much in the vein of that other, more recent, Halloween classic, Trick 'r Treat.

I'll tell you straight up that it's not as good as Trick 'r Treat, but it wasn't a bad way to spend a Halloween night, cuddled up on the couch with a bag full of candy, after all the excitement of the day has wound down. The stories are more sequential and less interwoven than they were in Trick 'r Treat - occasionally a reference to one short will be made in another, and the trick 'r treaters who feature predominantly in one story are recycled in the others. To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a...well, short description of each of the shorts:

Sweet Tooth - An urban legend about a kid who will eat all your candy (even the pieces you've already eaten) comes to life.

The Night Billy Raised Hell - An unfortunate kid learns why it's a bad idea to egg the guy's house who never gives out candy. (spoiler: it's not because he doesn't know how to enjoy the holiday).

Trick - A group of kids decide they'd rather draw blood than receive candy from a group of adults spending the holiday under the influence (spoiler: that decision is entirely justified).

The Weak and the Wicked - A bullied kid attempts to summon a Halloween demon to exact vengeance on his (rather sadistic) bullies.

Grim Grinning Ghost - A fairly straightforward exercise in suspense, expectation, redirection, and jump scares, when a woman's car breaks down and she has to walk home after listening to ghost stories at a friend's house.

Ding Dong - A rather quirky segment, featuring some kind of demon lady who really wants children, and her soft-spoken mate, as they navigate the temptation of having children delivered right to their doorstep on Halloween.

This Means War - A short that seemed more interesting in its setup than its ultimate conclusion. Basically, a tale of one-upsmanship in the realm of decorating your house for the holiday.

Friday the 31st - An over-the-top, humorous parody of Friday the 13th, involving a costumed victim, a Jason rip-off, and, believe it or not, a UFO.

The Ransom of Rusty Rex - Two desperate would-be kidnappers get a whole lot more than they bargained for when they try to take a millionaire's trick 'r treating son hostage.

Bad Seed - a killer goes on a rampage during Halloween, but it takes the novel form of a sentient (and bloodthirsty) jack o' lantern. Kind of reminded me of Halloween III (the one without Michael Myers).

And there you have it - take it or leave it. I hope you've had a haunted holiday, and if I don't see you sooner, I imagine I'll meet you back here next Halloween!

Halloween 2017

I'm a little out of practice, but here's what I watched for Halloween this year:

The Void (2016) - a Lovecraftian horror with shades of Silent Hill, Hellraiser, and creature effects that would do justice to John Carpenter's The Thing. You never know what you're going to get when going into a horror film - a stylistic tour de force or a cheap 'b' flick. While seeming like the latter, this fortunately leans more toward the former. A group of small town nobodies is besieged in a local hospital by hooded cult-like figures. But rather than a routine run-around hack-and-slash, themes of occult medical experimentation, dark gods, and dimensions to alternate realities are the rule of the day. Recommended.

The Babysitter (2017) - A geeky adolescent finds his courage as he struggles to survive when a night with the babysitter turns unexpectedly homicidal in this campy horror-comedy that was (to my disappointment) more suburban slasher than Satanic ritual. Nevertheless, it's got the style and the humor to be a throwback cult teen movie. Samara Weaving nails the hot-to-trot babysitter with a heart of gold (and also a dark secret), even if she doesn't make as convincing a baddie. For people who prefer fun over scary movies for their Halloween viewing.

Cabin Fever (2002) - Eli Roth (of Hostel fame)'s cult classic tongue-in-cheek horror about the outbreak of a flesh-eating virus in a backwoods setting, starring Rider Strong (Boy/Girl Meets World's own Shawn Hunter). Irreverently self-aware, this movie pokes fun at many horror tropes, while competently bringing the gross-out (no surprise there, given Eli Roth's reputation). I've never been prejudiced against "gorror" movies, but I do have to admit that I'm losing my stomach for them, and I have to say I was easily distracted while watching this one, and lost a lot of interest as lunch time loomed near.

American Fable (2016) - Good, in spite of its flaws. Tries to be a surreal, "modern day fairy tale" (think Pan's Labyrinth), but is too rooted in reality to get its feet off the ground (it wasn't really the movie I thought it was going to be from reading the description). The plot, however, is as compelling as it is a damning portrait of the lows to which its farmers stoop to save their lifestyle from urbanization (or something). The acting is a little wooden, and some of the characters are unrealistic caricatures (perhaps this was intentional), but young Peyton Kennedy is a vision of radiance and worth the price of admission alone.

Mindhunter (2017) - Not a movie, but a series, and a Netflix original, at that. Was introduced to it from a blurb in Time magazine of all places. It sounded interesting, so I gave the first episode a watch, and was instantly hooked. It's fantastically written, acted, and directed, based on the experiences of the guy who literally wrote the book on criminal behavioral science and (I'm guessing) invented the term "serial killer". The series depicts upstart FBI agent Holden Ford's crusade to redirect the bureau's efforts from trying to hunt inscrutable evil (and always staying one step behind), to learning to predict deviant behavior by studying the criminal mind first hand - by interviewing convicted killers, some of whom are disturbingly captivating. Also costars Anna Torv, formerly of Fringe. I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

Terminator Marathon

In anticipation of going to see the new Terminator movie in theaters (since I'd heard good things about it from a close friend), I decided to go back and rewatch the first two Terminator movies, as well as the third and the fourth that I had never seen before. Here are my thoughts on each of the movies:

The Terminator (1984)

It's easy to write The Terminator off as a brainless Hollywood blockbuster (mainly due to the success and reputation of its sequel, which often - and unfairly in my opinion - eclipses its predecessor), but I view it as one of the pinnacle examples of a brilliant sci-fi premise executed flawlessly. A cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger, perfectly cast in a role that facilitated his transformation from an award-winning bodybuilder to a movie star) is sent from a future ravaged by nuclear war, where (much like in the Matrix), machines have enslaved and all but exterminated mankind. The Terminator's single-minded goal is to assassinate the leader of the human resistance - before he is ever born, by targeting his mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).

And so, without any concern for propriety or maintaining a low profile, the Terminator begins its rampage through Los Angeles, like an indestructible bulldozer, recklessly killing anyone and destroying anything that gets between him and his target. Sarah Connor's only protection is a human resistance fighter sent back from the future like the Terminator - a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, who, along with Lance Henriksen who plays a small role in this movie, also appears in director James Cameron's sequel to Alien), whose journey to the past initiates one of the great mindfucks of a time paradox in cinematic history - predating Back To The Future by a year! The Terminator's relentless pursuit of his target is thrilling to watch, and builds to a terrifying climax when the killing machine's true form is revealed. I unhesitatingly rate it one of the masterpieces of the science fiction genre.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The Terminator was a pretty neatly-wrapped narrative (as time loops tend to be), but whenever the unavoidably inconsistent logic of time travel is involved, there is always room for retconning. So Terminator 2 starts by introducing a second Terminator sent back in time, this time to target John Connor himself (Edward Furlong) before the war (dubbed "Judgment Day"), while he was still a child. Linda Hamilton returns as the boy's mother, Sarah Connor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the Terminator - with a significant twist: this time, he's been programmed to protect John Connor, against an even more powerful killing machine: Robert Patrick's T-1000.

This movie is a lot more self-conscious than The Terminator was (for better or worse, depending on your perspective). Arnold's entrance is no less badass, but this time it conspicuously strives to be "cool", whereas the first one was just terrifying. And while it's a clever way to put a twist on the story, I just don't like turning the unstoppable killer from the first movie into one of the good guys. Here, you have the Terminator learning to smile and crack jokes (and minimize human casualties); and while I'm sure having one as your personal bodyguard fulfills every 13 year old boy's fantasy, the Terminator is just not as awesome when it's reduced to fulfilling the role of a pet, or a toy.

On the other side of the ring, you have this new villain who I think works out better in theory than in practice. Robert Patrick is sinister-looking enough, but he doesn't make as intimidating a villain as Mr. Olympia (Arnold) did. The idea of liquid metal is undoubtedly cool, but the effects just don't impress me as much as a cyborg with a creepy-looking robotic endoskeleton. In summary, The Terminator was a desperate struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming odds, whereas Terminator 2 is a face-off between two juggernauts - and the movie feels different as a result. Personally, I prefer the tension and the despair of the former to the action and spectacle of the latter.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

With James Cameron no longer at the helm, and over a decade since the last entry, Terminator 3 is bound to feel like a departure from the previous titles in the series. Nevertheless, it picks up right where Terminator 2 left off, and utilizes a similar formula (arguably rendering it obsolete - especially considering that it's not as good - except for the fact that it retcons T2's resolution, making another sequel about the war-torn future possible). Although, like the original, T2's ending was pretty conclusive - Sarah and John Connor trashed Cyberdyne Systems' headquarters (the company that produced the AI that precipitated Judgment Day), thereby changing the future and averting the apocalypse - in T3, a young adult John Connor (Nick Stahl) is living in constant fear that fate will, sooner or later, find another way to manifest itself. And sure enough, it does.

Enter the new T-X (Kristanna Loken) - a female Terminatrix. She's a highly advanced model, taking on the best of the first two Terminators - a robotic endoskeleton underneath a layer of liquid metal - with added firepower and the ability to control other machines. This all sounds awesome, but I think it's gotten to the level of being a little ridiculous. (On that note, explosions are cool because fire, but I don't really need to see an entire city block demolished for no good reason - that's not entertainment for me). I don't want to be sexist - because women can be legitimately terrifying - but Kristanna Loken just isn't as intimidating as an award-winning bodybuilder can be. I feel like both she and Robert Patrick in T2 were trying too hard to imitate Arnold's emotionless, deadpan expressions that were so genuine in the original. It's a shame that they insisted on turning Arnold's Terminator into a sympathetic good guy - they should have just kept him as the villain.

Speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he returns in this movie in a role very similar to the last. His entrance is even more humorous this time, when he enters a ladies' bar and steals the clothes off of a male stripper (I am not joking). No explanation is given as to how the Terminators make it to the past, two movies after we were told that the time travel device had been busted after Kyle Reese and the first Terminator went through. Plot consistency is tricky to begin with where time travel is involved, but the more they tack on to the story, the messier it gets. If repeated time travel is an option (via a repaired or second machine, for example), then questions arise, such as, why send the T-X (or even the T-1000) to kill an informed John Connor rather than an inexperienced Sarah Connor, as was the target the first time? And why not send a bunch of Terminators instead of just one? You can tell the series has gone from "I have a great story to tell!" to "what kind of story can we tell to keep this franchise going?"

Terminator Salvation (2009)

You could be forgiven for thinking that, twenty-five years after the first film, there wouldn't be any new ground left to tread in a Terminator movie, but you would be wrong. Apart from a few glimpses into the memories of Kyle Reese (played in this movie by Anton Yelchin), the story of the future resistance hadn't really been told. And I'm not sure that it could have been told until we'd seen the experiences (that span the second and third movies) that make up John Connor (Christian Bale, this time around)'s youth, and inform his prescient knowledge of the key to winning the war. That, and we also had to develop the special effects necessary to tell the story first.

An interesting thing about the Terminator movies, if you examine them, is that, despite it being a story involving time travel, that spans the years 1984 to 2029, each one takes place predominantly in chronological order. From before John Connor's birth, to his childhood, to the moments preceding Judgment Day, and now finally we move forward into the future to explore man's resistance against the machines. Terminator Salvation ditches the stale formula the series had latched onto, which is probably for the best. It is, therefore, an unpredictable movie, that doesn't feel like a classic Terminator - although it has lots of respect for the movies that preceded it - and it is a good movie nonetheless.

It is, however, a bleak and visually desaturated movie. But I like that it tries to do its own thing, instead of struggling to capture lightning in a bottle all over again. Arnold Schwarzenegger's absence isn't even that painful, since the Terminators have little need to disguise themselves as humans in the future - and they look as terrifying as ever here! Also, this movie provides an intriguing and far more effective example of a sympathetic rogue Terminator (portrayed by Sam Worthington) than we've ever seen before. It builds to a shockingly clever and exciting climax, that respectfully pays homage to its predecessors, with all new, updated special effects. As a total package, it's not as brilliant or flawless as the original Terminator, but I think I liked it better than the fan-favored Terminator 2.

Reopening The X-Files

This is an event that's been a long time coming, but my experience with Chris Carter's sci-fi/horror alien conspiracy TV series The X-Files has always been driven by opportunity. When it first premiered circa 1993 (incidentally, the same year that Jurassic Park came out), I didn't start watching it - but I was aware of it. I saw commercials for it, and I initially thought it was a movie, due to its subject nature. Fire In The Sky came out that year, too (a harrowing film I would describe as torture porn for the alien abduction generation), which I saw in theaters and subsequently paid for in the form of nightmares. I was probably just getting into my alien abduction phase at that time, spurred on by another TV series from the '90s - the supernatural and documentary-ish Sightings. But I had no idea in 1993 that The X-Files would become such a groundbreaking television show.

It was actually four years later that FX announced a unique event - an episode-a-day airing of the entire first four seasons of The X-Files, in order - that I finally caught the wave of the show. By that time, I had been thinking that The X-Files was a show I'd like to watch, but I didn't want to jump in right in the middle. So this event was the perfect opportunity for me to get up to speed with the show, and I dedicated myself (even going so far as using the little TV in the basement when I was grounded and lost bedroom TV privileges) to gluing myself to the TV screen to watch episode after episode, until I was caught up. It took longer than that summer to get up to speed, so I actually started taping the new episodes in the fifth season in anticipation of the time I would be ready to watch them, but eventually I reached that point when I could make the weekly appointment to watch the new episodes as they aired each Sunday night. And The X-Files became one of my favorite TV shows of all time.

After that season, the first movie was released, which I got to see in the theaters, and was a really exciting experience for me. It was the perfect distillation of The X-Files in movie form. Then the show continued, but it began to get a little long in the tooth. The mythology which had been so exciting to follow (even in the absence of any concrete answers after five or six years) started to grow too convoluted, and even the excitement of finally introducing actual aliens into the show seemed to take away from the suspense of not knowing that made the show so intriguing in the past. When David Duchovny left the show as a regular character, that was the final straw - and I tuned out. No offense to Robert Patrick who took his place (as a different character), who I think is a fine actor, but you just can't do The X-Files without Fox Mulder.

Even so, in the ensuing years, I've felt a little guilty that I never got to see how the show ended. I watched the second movie when it came out, I Want To Believe, which seemed a little like an apology from the creators and a return to form, and though response to it wasn't very strong, I felt that it acted like a suitable coda to the series. Still, I had it in the back of my mind that I would eventually have to go back and rewatch the series someday, and finally catch the last couple of seasons that I had missed. I remember seeing the full series DVD box set in the store, and not quite being ready to shell out a hefty price for it. Then, just this past year, I noticed the series was available on Netflix. But a nine season show is still a significant time commitment. I know people who could binge it without a second thought, but I'm not like that. It took me a few years to finish Buffy The Vampire Slayer (just this past October), and that show was only seven seasons long.

But then, it was announced that the original creators and stars of The X-Files were coming back to put together a short run of brand new episodes. I may be a little skeptical of how well this quintessential '90s show can capture the modern zeitgeist in a world that seems to have moved beyond the scare of UFOs and alien abductions, but the creators are confident that the government conspiracy aspect of the show, at least, is as timely as ever. And you can bet I'll be tuning in to watch it, just to see Mulder and Scully back together doing what they do best. And that's when it hit me - if ever there was a perfect time for me to rewatch The X-Files, this is it. I don't like the pressure of having to watch so much TV in a limited time frame, with a real deadline (the new episodes are scheduled to begin airing at the end of next January, after the Superbowl), but there'll never be a better reason for it than this. And, considering that my first introduction to the show was under eerily similar circumstances - I take that as a sign that this is meant to be.

So, over the next seven months (that's less than a month per season!), I'm going to do my best (with no absolute guarantee that I'll finish in time), to watch nine seasons - that's 202 episodes, or approximately 150 hours of television - of The X-Files. And I'll try to keep you up to date with a running commentary of my thoughts on the episodes as I go through them. I realized only too late that I should have reviewed the seasons of Buffy as I watched them, instead of waiting until I was finished with the whole show, but I won't make that mistake again. So, I don't know if I'm going to do it episodically, or season by season (the latter probably allows for more wiggle room, lower requirements for commentary, and thus less time spent writing when I could be watching), but stay tuned for the first installment of my journey through The X-Files, coming to you anywhere from tomorrow to within a month's time!

Season 1 (24 episodes)
Season 2 (25 episodes)
Season 3 (24 episodes)
Season 4 (24 episodes)
Season 5 (20 episodes)
The X-Files: Fight The Future (1998)
Season 6 (22 episodes)
Season 7 (22 episodes)
Season 8 (21 episodes)
Season 9 (20 episodes)
The X-Files: I Want To Believe (2008)

Alfred Hitchcock's Essentials

I suppose it's high time I familiarize myself with Alfred Hitchcock's oeuvre. In spite of his storied reputation as a director of horror films (or at least the suspense thrillers that passed for horror in those days), I'd only ever watched the obligatory Psycho, and The Birds, which I don't remember being quite as affecting to me personally as the story it was based on.

The golden era of cinema for me was sometime around the seventies and eighties, and I'll readily admit that, although I'm willing to delve back as far as the medium allows, unlike certain modernist snobs - I even voluntarily watched a "hundred movies" pack of "horror" films mostly from the '20s, '30s, and '40s one October before I ever started this blog - I tend to be biased against many of those older movies.

It's not that I can't enjoy them, nor that I don't appreciate them in the context of their time - and there are certainly timeless exceptions that stand out (I was very impressed by the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for example) - but those old movies often feel dated, and what might have been novel and groundbreaking at the time often loses its spectacle in the context of a modern perspective.

Still, experiencing the results of a celebrated auteur at work often holds a timeless charm. Psycho was, in many ways, a groundbreaking film, and although I never felt it was as compelling as - to choose another vintage classic - Night of the Living Dead, there may be much in Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic style that I've missed out on previously, as an undiscerning amateur. Perhaps a cursory examination of five of his most memorable films will yet yield some insight into the reason he has become such a historical figure...

Rear Window (1954)
Vertigo (1958)
North By Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Introduction)

Created by Joss Whedon, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a cult classic in dramatic fantasy horror television, with a huge fanbase, and a significant pop culture footprint. The series deftly juggles horror, comedy, and drama, with likable characters and imaginative villains. Though heavily steeped in horror themes, I consider it primarily a coming of age drama, as it rarely manages to be genuinely scary.

However, it is a very compelling drama that is often a lot of fun to watch, yet takes its craft seriously, and is not afraid to confront serious life issues (and can even be emotionally challenging to watch at times). If you like horror, and enjoy dramatic television, and especially if you're keen on the idea of having a strong female protagonist, then I wholeheartedly recommend this series.

It's also highly rewatchable, with quick (and mostly unobtrusive) clip recaps at the beginning of most episodes, serving as a reminder of important plot points (or an indicator of where things stand with various characters, if you're jumping in out of order) that will be built upon in the following episode. If you're already familiar with the series (or not deterred by major spoilers), and want to read my thoughts in more depth about each of the seasons (and the preceding film adaptation of the concept), I invite you to use the following links:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Movie)
Buffy (TV): Season One
Buffy (TV): Season Two
Buffy (TV): Season Three
Buffy (TV): Season Four
Buffy (TV): Season Five
Buffy (TV): Season Six
Buffy (TV): Season Seven

Ode to the Slasher

Slasher flicks are a much-maligned, yet perennially-popular subgenre of horror. But while they've been done inside and out in this day and age, I've found that going back to the classics enables me to appreciate when the formula was still fresh, ideas were clever, and artistry was still in evidence. And there's no denying that four franchises in particular defined the subgenre, and introduced a series of cultural icons to the public mindset.

It starts with 1974's Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which introduced the apron-wearing, chainsaw-wielding, inbred hick dubbed Leatherface. Then it continues with John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978, featuring the escaped mental patient and bogeyman without a conscience who embodies soulless evil, Michael Myers, with his mask and kitchen knife. Following that was 1978's Friday the 13th, which eventually formed an icon out of the hockey mask-wearing, machete-wielding, waterlogged, decaying avenger-from-beyond-the-grave, Jason Voorhees. Finally, 1984 brought A Nightmare on Elm Street, poisoning kids' dreams with Freddy Krueger's burned scars, clicking, screeching finger-knives, and characteristic hat and striped sweater.

Growing up in the '80s and the '90s, after these horror icons had settled in to the public consciousness, you didn't even have to be a horror buff to know who Freddy and Jason was, or the guy with the chainsaw (Michael Myers was somewhat less iconic, I think, due to his utter lack of personality), and that you should be scared of them. I knew, and I hadn't watched any of these movies until later in my life.

The scores of sequels that these movies inspired were a mixed blessing, solidifying each of the individual franchises' popularity, but also running each series more or less into the ground with rehashed tellings of the same basic story. Meanwhile, the slew of imitators they inspired only served to reinforce the formulaic and cliched nature of the subgenre, and despite eventually evolving through new stages of awareness and self-referential parody, it remains difficult to create a slasher that is truly fresh and original.

Nevertheless, I still find it exciting to return to those classics that filled all of our hearts with dread and our heads with frightening images. Be it the frank and raw brutality of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the haunting atmosphere of Halloween, Friday the 13th's promise that adolescent abandon will not go unpunished, or A Nightmare on Elm Street's threat that it is not safe to go to sleep. As a horror fan, I've seen all of these titles, and many of their sequels, but I've never sat down to watch them in order before, to chart the inevitably declining progress of each series, and their ups and downs. That is something I'd like to do this October; so stay tuned for a series of slasher marathons!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Halloween
Friday the 13th
A Nightmare on Elm Street

Edit: Here are some bonus links!

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009)
Friday the 13th (2009)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Texas Chainsaw (2013)

Plus, a Hellraiser marathon, for good measure!

It's Zeptember!

Led Zeppelin was my favorite band in college. Hell, I had the nickname "Zep" among my friends. Not terribly original, I know, but it shows the depth of my obsession. I actually made a conscious effort to play every song in the band's discography at least once during my four years as a campus radio DJ. And one of my proudest programs was an extensively researched show about the musical roots of Led Zeppelin's recorded works. And though I'll cite Pink Floyd as the soundtrack to my high school years, when it came time to get ready for prom, it was Led Zeppelin's first, second, and fourth albums that I put on rotation.

I may not listen to Led Zeppelin as frequently now as I did then, but my love and respect for them hasn't faded. So I thought it would be exciting to celebrate this Zeptember by going back through their catalog, and giving each of their original studio albums (and maybe a live album or two) a re-listen, with comments about my reaction to their music, in the years it's been since I first discovered them. Which songs stand the test of time, and how have my opinions of the band's music changed over the years, if at all? Let's find out!

Led Zeppelin (1969)
Led Zeppelin II (1969)
Led Zeppelin III (1970)
Untitled (1971)
Houses of the Holy (1973)
Physical Graffiti (1975)
Presence (1977)
In Through The Out Door (1979)
Coda (1982)

And now, as a bonus feature, I'm going to rate Led Zeppelin's original studio albums in order from best to worst (in my opinion, of course):

IV, I, II, Physical Graffiti, Houses of the Holy, Presence, III, Coda, In Through The Out Door

Movies I watched this Halloween (2012)

...excepting the ones I've already properly reviewed, of course.

Drag Me To Hell (2011)

When Drag Me To Hell came out in 2011, I filed it in the back of my mind as a potential title to watch, because I love to see the theme of hell in movies (not even just horror movies). I think hell is a fascinating concept, and I love to see different people's interpretations of it. And I thought the premise of this movie was going to be some person who gets dragged down to hell. Which, essentially is what it is, except that the movie is all about this girl being cursed and trying to fight her fate, and not what happens to her after she (huge spoiler) fails to lift the curse and gets dragged down to hell, literally in the last moments of the film (although we see nothing lower than ground level). So, huge disappointment in that respect. As for what the movie actually is, I should have known that coming from Sam Raimi - the man responsible for the slapstick hijinks of the Evil Dead trilogy - I wouldn't like the style. It gets pretty ridiculous at some parts, to the point that I consider it a waste of time. Alison Lohman is beautiful in the lead role, but it's not even worth it to watch just for her performance.

Zombieland (2009)

I had no expectations of loving Zombieland, given that it's more of a horror comedy, and is frequently mentioned in the same breath as Shaun of the Dead, another zombie title hailed as a modern masterpiece by people who don't typically watch horror (hence their ability to appreciate horror comedy). But I was willing to give Shaun of the Dead a watch, and people kept coming to me praising Zombieland, asking if I'd seen it, and it stars both a really hot-looking Emma Stone as well as Abigail Breslin (who was in the fantastic Little Miss Sunshine), so I gave it a watch. It's actually pretty good. The style of the movie is way too light-hearted for me - someone who prefers dark, serious movies - but I can see why a lot of people like it.


Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Rosemary's Baby is a masterpiece of suspense horror directed by Roman Polanski. It gets talked about a lot (for good reason), and I recall seeing at least some scenes from it on TV in the past, but I don't think I'd ever actually sat down and watched the whole thing before, so I made a point to do that this Halloween. It's a fantastic movie, with a fantastic premise - a devil worshipping cult tricks (very cleverly) a young woman into bearing the son of Lucifer. Mia Farrow is sensational in the lead role, as a vulnerable and attractive young mother-to-be. And mad props for actually including the scene where she's raped by the devil - and, better yet, actually including some nudity! Awesome. This is a well-deserved classic horror film and I highly recommend it.


The Omen (1976)

Continuing in the 'devil child' vein, I decided to follow Rosemary's Baby up with The Omen. I remember when the remake came out in 2006 (on the date 6/6/6), though I didn't watch it. But ever since then I've been aware of the original movie from 1976 as a horror classic, and this year I decided to watch it. It's actually very good. There's some mystery and some suspense, and a good bit of horror in the classic, chilling (rather than shocking) vein. And the one scene with the priest and the infernal storm is just awesome. And the dogs manage to actually be intimidating. And the graveyard scene is unforgettable. Great movie, in spite of its age.


The Bad Seed (1956)

This is a movie based off of a stage play about the sweetest little girl you've ever met, who turns out to be a cold-blooded killer. As it is based off a stage play, there is a heavy emphasis on character, and character interaction - which I find to be pretty fascinating (one of my favorite films of all time - Bug - was also adapted from a stage play). Patty McCormack plays the part of the bad seed magnificently, perfectly mixing her innocent charm with a hauntingly believable childlike malice. For a film that's over fifty years old, I rate it very highly and recommend it enthusiastically.



Wilderness Survival For Girls (2004)

This was a fascinating twist of the usual premise in slasher films where a group of young adults head up to a cabin in the woods and get bumped off by some psychotic killer. This time around, it's not so straightforward. Three girls head up to their cabin in the woods, and a suspicious stranger shows up, who claims to have been squatting in their cabin. But the girls have the upper hand, and tie him up in a chair at gunpoint. They wonder if he's the same guy that killed two girls several years ago and was never caught, but they have no hard evidence. The power shifts balance a few times, and the movie addresses the question of what sort of treatment of the stranger is justified by these girls. One the one hand, they're girls, and he's a full grown man. On the other, it's three against one. He might be dangerous, but then, they have no proof. It's an excellent dilemma, with some feminist undertones.

The Gate (1987)

Pretty terrifying for a children's movie. In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw this as a child, but all I remember from it is a scene with the eye in the palm, and the feeling that it was a very, very scary movie. As an adult, okay, it's not that terrifying, but it's still a really good movie. I miss the days when they made movies for kids that were actually good and not cheap schlock to placate the whiny runts. And the fx - I assume it's claymation - are really pretty good. I mean, like, you can tell they're not real, but they're infinitely more effective than shoddy CGI. And the creature design - especially the big daddy (which recalled for me the excellent monster design in Howard The Duck) - was fantastic, not ridiculous like a lot of today's monsters. And my favorite part of all (aside from the cute teenage sister) was the fact that the movie didn't shy away from being epic. This is sort of a spoiler, but most movies would build up to the end of the world and stop short. This movie doesn't pull any punches. Bravo.

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

The Mothman Prophecies is a movie that constructs a really creepy atmosphere. It's more of a mystery thriller than a straight-up horror, but I thought it was scary in its own way. Unfortunately, the cryptid angle leaves a little to be desired, but what you get in place of that is a very fascinating premise about prognostication and determinism, with some very haunting scenes. It's also a very sad, sad story. But I definitely get a feel from it that it could totally have been an extended episode of The X-Files - it's just missing Mulder and Scully...



Candyman (1992)

Candyman is a movie that I've been meaning to watch ever since I read Clive Barker's Books of Blood. Clive Barker is a horror writer who is the mastermind behind Hellraiser, and the story that the movie Candyman is based on was in the Books of Blood I read. The movie, I'm sure, expands and modifies the story to a full feature-length format, but I think Clive Barker was involved in its production, and anyway, the result is pretty good. In the story, Candyman is something of an urban legend - he's a real, supernatural villain, but he derives power from the beliefs of those he frightens. And the movie is the story of one woman's journey to discover the truth behind the myth, and the subsequent horrors she is then confronted with. It's pretty good.



Red State (2011)

After the debacle that was Drag Me To Hell, I could be forgiven for skipping over Red State, being that I'm not generally a fan of Kevin Smith's other forays into cinema, however popular they are. But, I had heard that this - horror - movie was actually pretty good, so I wanted to give it a watch. It was worth it. It is ostensibly the story of a fundamentalist religious group (obviously inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church, which was in the news for picketing the funeral of a gay man beaten to death), and the ungodly horrors they get up to in their private church, which involve online entrapment schemes and very criminal 'neutralization' of perverts. Anyway, this is kind of a spoiler, but the movie takes a left turn midway through and introduces the government by turning the situation into something very much like the Waco Massacre. The result is actually very fascinating in my opinion (although others seem frustrated by the lack of thematic focus). In the end, I think the movie provides a good opportunity to criticize the errors of both religion and government, with only the perverts really making out well in the end (at least image-wise). But, that could be my bias, since I am a pervert (and proud). Anyway, it was a really fascinating movie, and I do recommend it. And, as most people who have seen it agree, Michael Parks does a hauntingly captivating job in the role of the crazy, bigoted preacher man.

Alone With Her (2006)

Alone With Her is pretty much your typical crazy stalker story, although it cleverly uses the 'found footage' angle to its advantage so that we get to see the story unfold entirely from the point of view of the stalker's cameras. Which, gives it a kind of creepy feeling because it's almost like you're participating in the stalker's crimes. People will naturally criticize the voyeuristic element, but especially from the perspective of cinema, which is an inherently voyeuristic medium (and that's why we love it!), it's only natural to be curious. It's when the stalker uses voyeurism as a method to criminally invade another person's privacy, and then take advantage of that inside perspective to exercise unknowing control over that person's life, in a futile attempt to construct a scripted scenario that's doomed from the start, that it becomes creepy. Anyway, it's certainly a unique perspective, even if on a somewhat cliched narrative.


Megan Is Missing (2011)

Megan Is Missing purportedly claims to be an open warning about what can happen to teens who meet strangers on the internet, loosely based on any number of real life abduction cases (but no one in particular). But rather than a preventive education piece, it's climax is so horrifying as to make it a startlingly effective horror film instead. That's not to say that it's actually a good film, by cinematic standards - for one thing, the acting is terribly shoddy, as the majority of the characters try way too hard (or not hard enough) to behave like caricatures of either way-too-slutty or self-pitying teens. But the film takes the found footage technique to its logical conclusion by documenting via webcam and mobile phone what it is teens get up to when parents aren't around, and then marrying that with footage taken by the killer after one or more of those teens is abducted. Where this film succeeds is in going farther and being bolder than any movie before it (that I know of), in an attempt to document the true horror of what goes on in those most terrible of cases - the very thing most people instinctively desire to turn away from. The last 22 minutes of this movie is, in fact, so effective, that I describe it as pure nightmare fuel, and one of the most disturbing cinema experiences of my life - and I've seen both Irreversible, and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Really, it's a shame the movie is so terribly acted, because as a horror it's terrifyingly effective. But, I can't really recommend it to anyone, because it's just that bone-chilling, and merely thinking about it scares me - me!

Little Sweetheart (1989)

This is not actually a horror movie but more of a crime drama, but it features a character that is very much a "bad seed", not unlike in the movie of that title. She's nine years old, and played by a very charismatic, though unknown (like this whole movie, apparently), Cassie Barasch. She gets up to all sorts of misdeeds with her reluctant friend and cohort, including spying on a couple that just moved in nearby who are on the run after committing insurance fraud. Little Thelma (that's the girl's character's name) ends up blackmailing them for shopping money, and things just go downhill from there. It's a really fun movie, and the leading character's natural penchant for criminal mischievousness is fascinating to watch. It's a seemingly unheard of movie, but I recommend it highly.


Texas Killing Fields (2011)

Texas Killing Fields is a heavily atmospheric little number with an excellent swampy soundtrack. It's a bit of a crime suspense thriller, and the story was a little hard to follow, but I honestly didn't even mind, because the characters' motivations were pretty easy to suss out - and, I'll be honest, I really go for a movie that can construct a good atmosphere. Plus, Chloe Moretz stars in a supporting role, and she always lights up the screen, even when she's playing (as she frequently does) a downtrodden child with a lot of things to be depressed about, but nevertheless with a good head on her shoulders, and the ability to somehow maintain a fragment of her innocence through it all. I don't think this movie got much acclaim when it came out (I wasn't able to get around to seeing it, though I wanted to), but I liked it.

Music Haul (2011)

CDs are a great Christmas gift - certainly for a music fan. They're cheap, you can never have too many (I've been collecting for years and am still nowhere near done), and each one is a potentially exciting musical discovery waiting to happen. The only trick is finding the ones a person is going to like (much easier if they tell you which those are). It is true that the digital revolution is changing the way we consume all sorts of media - not limited to music - but I have yet to outgrow the CD format (it's scary to think that the day is fast approaching - if it's not here already - when kids will view CDs in the same antiquated light as I learned to view vinyl records (albeit I've always given them the reverence due a well respected elder format)). So, it doesn't take a stretch of belief to hear that my most numerous Christmas gift is that of the CD album. I shall now list those CDs I received this year, and give a short review of each:

Iron Maiden - Edward The Great (2002)
Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell (1980)
Rush - Feedback [EP] (2004)
Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House (1970)
Journey - Look Into The Future (1976)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show [Soundtrack] (1975)
Jethro Tull - Aqualung (1971)
Explosions In The Sky - How Strange, Innocence (2000)
The Rolling Stones - The Brussels Affair (Live, 1973)
Lance Lopez - Live (2007)
Michael Bloomfield - Live At Bill Graham's Fillmore West (1969)
Gary Moore - Blues For Greeny (1995)

Bonus:
Black Country Communion - Live Over Europe [DVD] (2011)

Dakota Delirium

You may, by now, have noticed that I am currently experiencing an obsession with the young actress (and all around pretty girl) Dakota Fanning. I've known of and admired Dakota for years now (more on that here), but my recent quest to recover some photos of her that I had lost has gotten me rather absorbed. As a result of my current focus, I decided it would be as good an opportunity as any to do what I had been meaning to do for some time now - watch many of the films Dakota has starred in that I had not yet seen. Indeed, I have already accomplished the viewing of two separate double features, and I still intend to view more. So stick around as I delve into the lovely Dakota Fanning's film career, as it stands at this point in time!

Double Dakota Features:
Push (2009) & The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
I Am Sam (2001) & Man On Fire (2004)
Hide And Seek (2005) & Fragments (2008) [Bonus: Cutlass (2007)!]
Charlotte's Web (2006) & Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story (2005)
The Cat in the Hat (2003) & War of the Worlds (2005)
Sweet Home Alabama (2002) & Uptown Girls (2003)
Trapped (2002) & Nine Lives (2005)

Showcase:
Hounddog (2007)
The Runaways (2010)

(I think I'll wait on watching The Twilight Saga until after the final installment is released).

A Much Belated Horrorfest

For the previous four years, After Dark Films has presented Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For. Each year, Horrorfest has seen eight independent horror films destined for limited release, chosen for theatrical screening in a festival atmosphere over one or two weekends in selected theaters across the country. Last year's Horrorfest was the last, with After Dark Films now replacing it with their Originals, in an even more limited screening. Last year was also the first Horrorfest I couldn't see in theaters, because none of the theaters within an hour's drive of my house were showing it. Now, I finally have my hands on the DVD Box Set of Horrorfest 4, so I can sit down and watch what I missed. And though I took my time finding the time to sit down and watch them, here are my impressions of the final 8 Films To Die For (in the order that I viewed them):

The Reeds
The Final
Dread
The Graves
Lake Mungo
Zombies of Mass Destruction
Hidden
Kill Theory

Conclusion: And that concludes Horrorfest. It was fun while it lasted. I had a good 4+ years. I suppose my last order of business would be to rank this (er, last) year's films, from best to worst - a task that I have been both looking forward to, and dreading...

Lake Mungo
Hidden
The Final
Dread
Kill Theory
The Reeds
Zombies of Mass Destruction
The Graves

Although this year, unlike last year, when there were a couple films that stood as being clearly the best, the ones that stand out were the couple that were clearly the worst. So there's a pretty big gap between The Reeds and ZMD, and I would recommend any of the films above that gap, and I would caution you to avoid those two below the gap.

The Slumber Party Massacre Collection

In the mood for some classic slasher sleaze, I settled in for a Slumber Party Massacre Marathon, and here are my thoughts on the "Driller Killer Thrillers":

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

This is really a great classic slasher film. I liked it the first time I saw it, and I think I appreciated it even more this time. Because of the subject matter (read: it plays up the sex side of the sex and violence equation), this one is easily written off as not a serious title among slasher canon. But while it doesn't rise quite to the cinematic level of Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm St, and the original Friday The 13th, it does take itself seriously (but not too seriously), and it's a very entertaining movie that I am not ashamed to mention in the same breath as those other esteemed classics.

Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)

SPM2 is really a terrible movie. But it has this crazy style to it, that you can't help cracking a grin, despite how bad it is. The Driller Killer returns in the tormented nightmares of one of the survivors of the first Slumber Party Massacre. For some reason, the killer is now a guitar-shredding rockabilly rebel freak complete with black leather fringe and greased sideburns. He wields a ridiculously spiky red guitar with a huge drill attached to its head, and quips rock n roll themed one liners while killing without conscience - yet plenty of style. No explanation whatsoever is given as to how he manages to cross the barrier from dream world to real world.

The movie doesn't take itself seriously - and neither should you - and is very conscious of its genre (the two police officers' names are a blatant homage to Freddie and Jason). The balance is (unfortunately) tipped back over to the violence side of things, though sexual innuendo remains a central theme. But this time around, the whole thirty-year-olds-playing-teenagers is actually starting to get embarrassing (and now we're supposed to believe Courtney was only twelve in the first movie!?). As I said, it's really a terrible movie, but the killer is so ridiculous you have to give him a nod. Anyway his stylized drill-guitar could be just the perfect icon for this blog!

Slumber Party Massacre III (1990)

It's interesting watching these three movies, because it's like watching the evolution of the slasher flick through three "generations". The first one is the pioneer, plays things straight, and manages to feel fresh. The second one is self-aware, just for fun's sake, and doesn't take itself seriously. And then the third one swings back toward being a serious horror movie, but by this time, the premise is laid bare, and the formula has been worked through so many times that it begins to become tired and drawn out. SPM3 isn't as good as the first one, but it manages to be a much better film than the second one. It has its share of flaws, but the entire final sequence is pretty exciting, and genuinely horrifying. And the movie overall has enough sex and nudity to possibly balance out the violence (now I'm wondering how much of the perceived imbalance in most other films of this type is because of the ratings board censoring the sex and nudity more than the violence - it wouldn't surprise me).

I'm not convinced by the villain in this one, though. There are so many good, legitimate reasons to be antisocial and lash out against society and your peers, I fail to be impressed by the stereotypical fantasy depiction of the traumatized psychopath. Not to say that that angle is completely off the mark, but I feel like it could be played a whole lot more effectively with a little more care and realism. Alternatively, I suppose we're too often afraid to consider the possibility that a rational, intelligent man with a sane mind could calmly reach the conclusion that killing people is a good idea. (Talk about horror).

Music Haul (2010)

For convenience, I'm including here a list of the reviews I've written for all the CDs I got for Christmas this year, as it's becoming a bit of a yearly tradition!

Deep Purple - In Rock (1970)
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - f# a# oo (1998)
Earthless - Live At Roadburn (2008)
Ted Nugent (1975)
Rush (1974)
Cold Chisel (1978)
Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Sky Is Crying (1991)
Black Sabbath - Past Lives
Jeff Beck Group (1972)
Harvey Mandel - Shangrenade (1973)
Roy Buchanan - Live In Japan (1978)
Neil Young - Lucky Thirteen (1993)
Santana III (1971)
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Framed (1972) & Next (1973)

Bonus:
Jim Jarmusch's Year of the Horse [DVD] (1997)

Emma Fever

As everybody knows, Emma Watson is the pretty young actress who stars in the Harry Potter films. I've known it, and I've had nothing to do with Harry Potter (haven't seen the films, haven't read the books).

I never had any hatred for Harry Potter, I merely avoided it because I have a tendency to avoid things that are popular (I'm not a scenester or a fad kid). That, and compared to the other popular fantasy story which I really like, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter seemed kind of kidsy. But, from the very beginning, I knew that someday, Emma Watson would be my excuse to watch those films.

Well, she came to me last night in a dream (no kidding), and now I'm rather smitten with her. So I think the time has come. I am right now seriously considering marathoning the six Harry Potter movies that have heretofore been released. Hopefully before the [first part of the] seventh slips out of theaters. Stay tuned.

The Philosopher's Stone
The Chamber of Secrets
The Prisoner of Azkaban
The Goblet of Fire
The Order of the Phoenix
The Half-Blood Prince
The Deathly Hallows (Part 1)
The Deathly Hallows (Part 2)

Bonus: Ballet Shoes

The Walking Dead (An Introduction)

There is a new zomdrom (zombie drama) currently airing on AMC television called The Walking Dead. I first heard about it on Exfanding Your Horizons. Despite being a horror junkie with an interest in good zombie apocalypse stories (and there are plenty of zombie stories out there, though not all of them good), I wasn't originally going to catch this new series on AMC. Why not? Well, it was premiering on Halloween, and I already had plans for a movie marathon that day. And above all, I'm not a huge fan of television. I don't watch a lot of TV because the commercials are annoying, and like Nathaniel described in a recent Exfanding post, unlike other media, with TV, you have to plan your schedule around when your show is on, instead of watching it whenever you're good and ready.

But despite all that, I ended up deciding at the last moment to watch it. I had read an article in the newspaper (of all places) earlier that week that really hyped up the series, making it out to be more than just another run of the mill zombie story. And when the hallowed day came, I happened to be on a break between movies (for my marathon) when The Walking Dead came on, so I sat down and watched it. And I liked it. Enough to come back the following week. Did it live up to the hype? I'm probably spoiled by all the gory zombie features I've seen in my day, so it wasn't any scarier - or any gorier - than what I expect from a good zombie story. I hear people talk about how extreme it is, and I have to think to myself, yeah, I guess if you watch a lot of TV rather than a lot of horror movies - and this series seems to be getting a lot of notice in TV Town (to the extent that I can tell from my perch over here on Movie Mountain) - then this must be pretty extreme. After all, the gore I'm used to in the theater isn't exactly standard fare on the smaller screen, even for late night television. And I have to admit, the concept of a zombie series on TV of all places is not conventional - but very exciting.

So is it a good show? Yes. It's a good zombie story. As I mentioned, I came back, and I plan to continue coming back, to see where the story goes. The gore and scares may not set this series apart from other zombie stories, but I don't think that's really its claim to fame, is it? This story does have something unique, and it's the drama - the human drama. Which, I guess, makes it a prime suspect for a TV series. The Walking Dead puts the heart back into the decaying corpse of zombie horror. As scary as the zombies are, they're just walking bags of flesh. Sure, they pose a very real threat to anyone still living. But it is the living who have to deal with the feelings - fear, and anxiety, and desperation - that the unfeeling zombies instill. The Walking Dead is not really about the dead, it's about those who are still alive.

Join me and my friend Scott as we watch the series, and discuss it episode by episode. Stay tuned for our discussion of the first episode, coming soon!