Talking about: Motor City Nightmares

Motor City Nightmares 2012

I had a disturbing nightmare last night.  I was in a field, and dozens of bumble bees arose from the grass around me.  With nowhere to go, I could only accept my horrible fate of being stung to death.  

I blame Tony Todd.

Well, you did have an opportunity to meet him yesterday.

Holy crap! What happened to your neck? Do you have a neck?

I had a little accident at the con.

Did you get trampled or something?

Why would I get trampled?

Oh, you know, I mean. . . your stature?

I may be an uncommon individual, but there's nothing wrong with my stature. Let me tell you what happened.

Go 'head!

Well, we get to the con, and it's a cool place. Everyone seems nice, no one's pushy. There's a guy selling cool horror themed clocks right by where you get tickets.

Yeah, I got a cool Friday the 13th themed one. It's one of those few series that can actually fill an entire clock face with movie entries.

Well, you went to go do whatever you did. . .

I hit up the Dark Shadows promotional people. I won a mini poster.

I went straight to the people that would appreciate me: the other horror celebs.

Other?

So I talked to PJ Soles, you know, from Halloween and Carrie and all that. She was really friendly.

Please tell me you didn't piss off Norma from Carrie.  She was very nice when I met her.

Why would I cause trouble? I met up with Tony Todd next, and he wanted a photo together.

Of course, it was his idea. You didn't say something stupid about bees then?

It's not really in my nature to say stupid shit.  After that, I got to meet up with Michael Berryman. You'll probably remember him as one of the protagonists defending his land in the original The Hills Have Eyes.

Uh. When is the last time you watched Hills Have Eyes?

A few days ago. Why?

Just, uh, different interpretations. Go on.

Well, he's really chummy, and he wanted a photo, too. I don't usually do a lot of picture posing, so it was fun.

Pretty cool. I'm not really sure I'm following how this is going to lead to a sprained "neck," though.

Believe me, I'm getting to it.  If you could fight your way through the crowd back there, eventually you got to Kane Hodder.

Oh yeah! A big fan favorite, and he's always so nice at these things.

Yeah. . . well, I get up there, and Jason is one of my favorite stabbers, you know? He kind of inspired me to get into the business in the first place.

The stabbing business.

Absolutely! And here's the thing. I got more excited than usual, and I started talking about the Friday films, and I mentioned something about Freddy vs Jason being my favorite in the series.

Uhhh, that is a really good one, but I'm sure you pointed out the one glaring, obvious flaw in the movie, right?

Well. . .

I mean, you said "Oh yeah that's my favorite Friday flick, except for it only having the second best Jason," right?

I may have neglected to express my full thoughts on the film.

So you met a horror icon more stabby than yourself, but only actually got your "neck" wrung.  


Man, I don't even feel bad for you now. I suggest next time keeping the talk restricted to his book.

I thought maybe he'd sign my neck brace!

I think maybe next time we'll go on different days.

The October Theme of the Month!

Bride of Frankenstein!

Now here's a really good one.  What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said?  If you're a Frankenstein fan, if you're a classic horror movie fan, if you're a classic movie fan in general, you've probably seen this already at least once.

Sure.

Some consider it to be James Whale's masterpiece. Some consider it to be the best Frankenstein film ever made. The funniest thing is seeing stuff from Mary Shelley's original novel that wasn't actually used in the first movie (in fact, very little of her novel was used in the first movie).

Yeah.

For example, this movie includes the part in the novel where the monster observes a family living out in their country home-- although in the movie, it's just an old blind man by himself. It's the first person to accept the monster instead of hating it on sight, and it's really crucial to the development of the monster as a character
What do you like about it, Yikes?

The uh. . . the marauding sequence?

Marauding sequence? You mean at the very beginning when he kills the old couple investigating the ruined windmill?

He only kills 2 people? I mean, yeah, that scene.

Wait. Yikes, have you actually seen Bride of Frankenstein?

Not. . . lately.

Have you seen Frankenstein?

I saw the one with John Hurt.

The one by Roger Coreman?
Frankenstein Unbound.

That's the one you've seen? The weird sci-fi time travel one where they mix in Mary Shelley with the fictional events of her story? There's like 8 universal Frankensteins, a Hammer series of them, god knows how many others, and the only one you've seen is Frankenstein Unbound?

I like John Hurt. I think he's a good actor.

He IS a good actor, Yikes. The point is, you're allowed to see more than one Frankenstein movie.

I've been afraid that seeing the others would taint my love of Frankenstein Unbound.

Holy crap, Yikes. Okay, let's look at some copies of the original that are available for us to pick up, okay?


There's the straight-up barebones copy of the single movie on DVD. If you ONLY want Bride, or you somehow already own some of the other Universal Frankenstein films on DVD, I guess this one could be for you. I personally have never checked out this edition, but I've heard reports that the transfer isn't so great.
Of course, we've probably all noted a pattern by now and know that this is what a collector really wants. This is one of the best of Universal's Legacy collections. It includes pretty much the entire Frankenstein series (which is also one of Universal's longest) with the exception of Meets the Wolfman, which we already know is on the previously discussed Wolfman Legacy Collection. Once again, this is the one I own, and I love it.

Hey now, let's not be forgetful!

Okay, okay. We've already talked about it enough. It's legitimately a fun movie, even if it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. There's some cool gore, and it's an interesting way to look at the Frankenstein legend.

I love it!

Your Coreman tolerance is higher than mine in general. 

It's not like I'm talking about the De Niro one here.

Fair enough. Now let's go check out the classics and you can start getting caught up.

Talking about movies: The Resident

Hey, everyone.  For the first time, Yikes is joining me for a post.

So as I've said, I've been very excited for the return of Hammer Horror.  I enjoyed the hell out of Wake Wood, and last night I got a chance to watch The Resident on Netflix streaming.

Well, shit.

Great.  1.5 floating heads.  Uh oh, she's looking this way. I better not say anything bad.

So, first of all, this is set in America, in Brooklyn, so already most of the Hammer feel is jetissoned and this is just another thriller about about a girl who moves into an apartment by herself, and I guess that's scary because girls can't take care of themselves and need a big burly landlord to protect them.

Of course, the twist, which is that he is not her protector but rather her stalker, is revealed halfway through the movie, or IMMEDIATELY if you read the Netflix synopsis:

A young doctor moves into a Brooklyn loft and realizes she isn't alone in her new abode. Now she's struggling to survive as she attempts to disentangle herself from her landlord, who has a key to her home and a growing obsession for his tenant

Of course, it's revealed even faster if you looked at the video cover and saw the grumpy landlord on the front.  I would complain, except the movie makes it so obvious I felt like the big reveal was just giving me a refresher on what happened over the previous 40 minutes.

You're posting spoilers.

Garbage can't spoil, yikes.  So basically, everything throughout the movie felt completely nonthreatening to me.  Her landlord is mostly a self-concious oaf who peeks at her through peep holes and creeps around in the walls.  I guess that's sort of unsettling, but it's also not a problem that can't be solved with a change of address. Later in the movie he gets a little more invasive, but by that point I was already disinterested and just waiting for it to end.

There was a part in the movie where he's hiding under her bed, and her arm is dangling down, and I thought he was going to bite her finger off.  I was disappointed.

Okay?

Well, I was dissapointed with the movie overall.  There was exactly 0 character arc for everyone, and the climax was nothing more than a source of irritation.  Swank's character, Juliette, does the cliched hitting the attacker with a weapon, then abandoning said weapon and fleeing no less than 4 times.  

I think the only positive thing I have to say about the movie is that Lee Pace, hopefully best known as Ned from Pushing Daisies, shows up for a little bit.

Hi, Ned! Please keep getting work.

So if you're in the mood to check out what might as well be a remake of previous, better done girl-moves-into-an-apartment-but-it's-scary movies, then you might as well check this out on instant watch. Alternatively, you could just watch something on Lifetime.

Talking about movies: Wake Wood

Wake Wood

So, no one has been more excited than I, or Yikes, at the return of Hammer Horror. I've been a big fan of all their classic movies, including their Dracula and Frankenstein series, preferring some of them to their previous Universal counterparts.

I know they have collaborated to bring out a few previous releases, including The Resident and the western remake of Let the Right One (Me) In, but this is the first one I've had the chance to sit down and watch.  It also seems like the first one that is, to me, a true hammer movie, taking place on their own side of the pond.

The cover is suitably bad-ass, and I approve.  Holy shit, arm is coming out of the ground.  It's made of wood, or maybe it's just a condition. 

(I just noticed this poster image I found says "The Wake Wood."  That's. . . wrong, but I've decided to keep it.)

Here is the synopsis according to Hammerfilms.com:

Still grieving the death of their only child Alice at the jaws of a crazed dog, vet Patrick and pharmacist Louise relocate to the remote town of Wake Wood where a local pagan ritual gives them three more precious days with her... but what will they do when it's time for their new daughter to go back?

So, as I've suggested, I was pretty excited to see this movie.  Thinking back on it a couple days later, I think I like it even more than I did when first viewing it.  This does a good job of being a supernatural horror movie that's grounding in reality. Everything in the movie is played dead serious, and the fracturing of the family after the death of their daughter is presented in a realistic manner.

There is some significant gore here and there, although the movie is relatively bloodless in between.  The gore consists of a few animal attacks in the first half, and then some supernatural murder in the final act of the film.  The animal attacks are pretty horrific, and I'm glad to see an R-rated horror movie earning its keep. There are also some arguably gory scenes of animal surgery.

The mood of the film is both somber and creepy.  The Irish locals, I thought, were beautiful, and the characters were all, overall, believable.  I felt like a few things could have been avoided if certain people had been a little more open with information, but I suppose that's the problem with these isolated communities.

I rented it, but I will definitely put the movie on a wish list for a future purchase when on sale, or maybe pick it up used.  I would not have regretted buying it new.