directed by Stanley Kubrick (1980)

As my “Top Best Movies You’ve Probably Seen But If You Haven’t You Better Get On It Marathon” continues I give you the one movie I just can’t forgive you for not seeing.

The Shining is simply my favorite movie and that is all.

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Posted on April 15, 2012

directed by Siu-Tung Ching (1987 and 1991)

The East does weird in a way that the West simply can’t and the fun, crazy Chinese Ghost Story trilogy proves it.

I remember hearing about these films years ago as elusive, cult classics; and with demons, tongue battles (that would be battles fought with giant monster tongues), walking tree spirits, rapping warriors, slapstick beheadings and ghostly seductions, “cult” is the only way to effectively classify these unique films.

The plots are similar between the two: Beautiful ghost spirit is under the control of a tree demon. Kind, handsome traveler stays the night in her haunted temple and falls in love. Must defeat demons to save her.

The original is more romantic and serious, but both include a healthy dose of humor and slapstick–the third almost to the point of tedium. The second… well sadly I can’t tell you anything about it: see, Netflix instant issues dictated a strange viewing order. First I watched what I assumed was the first movie only to find out afterwards that Netflix had mislabeled it and I had actually watched the third. So, not wanting to forgo seeing the original I watched the first movie (which was labeled Part 2 on Netfilx). At that point I thought we might as well finish up the trilogy, but found all three movies were no longer available. So, only reviewing 1 and 3 and no screen captures from me.

It’s a shame they’ve been taken off Netflix because they’re not readily available in the US–but are worth seeking out for lovers of bizarre cinema. I hope to one day see the second installment and complete the trilogy.

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Posted on January 21, 2012

dedicated to 80’s horror on film and on the almighty nes

I’m sure there’s an scathing essay to be written about how what I am about to say could be a symbol of the decline of civilization, but an animated gif of Johnny Depp being sucked into a bed followed by a fountain of blood is a very nostalgic image of my childhood.

What can I say, I was a horror buff pretty much right from the beginning. I couldn’t wait to watch movies I spied in the blood splattered section in the video store. (I also vividly remember seeing a curtained off area with rated X movies, and thought to myself “How scary can a movie be to be X rated??”)

I feel like horror geek kids don’t quite exist in the same way anymore. Remember the kid in Salem’s Lot who’s obsessed with monsters? He and all like him have grown up, and instead of nerdy rooms packed with Fangorias, we have tumblrs like F— Yeah 8 Bit Horror to view, share and remember our favorite gorey moments in cinema.

The site focuses on the golden age of horror, the 1980’s. There’s lot of stuff from the Nightmare on Elm Street series (which is fine with me, since making Elm St. movies was what I wanted to do when I grew up for years). There are also a few I haven’t seen (Trick or Treat looks like a must see).

A great example of a good tumblr.

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Posted on January 15, 2012

by Doris Lessing (1988)

Devilish children, whether possessed or born evil has been the subject of many a horror book and film (for a couple good ones see The Bad Seed, A Good and Happy Child, and of course, The Exorcist).

Doris Lessing‘s The Fifth Child does something slightly different with the genre. The horror is subtler, the child isn’t even recognized as being anything but spirited and unloved by doctors, and the unease taps more into the guilt and paranoia that comes with parenting rather than fear of a murderous tot a la Damien in The Omen.

It’s far more realistic than many like minded stories and in that way all the more terrifying. Even Lessing found writing it very “upsetting”.

It reminded me of an article I read many years ago about parents with overly aggressive sons whom they feared yet had to take care of. There was nothing they could do about it, and the futility and complete control the situation had over their lives, it stayed with me and scared me.

After all, in our real lives, isn’t it losing our happiness: happy marriages, happy family dynamics, happy sense of peace that is most frightening?

In the novel, that’s exactly whats threatened by Ben, the titular fifth child when he arrives in a bustling, loving family.

With his dead eyes, hobbit like appearance, incredible strength and tendency to kill animals he slowly destroys a happy family.

Lessing’s writing is sharp, like a great wit that never quite has anything nice to say about anybody. I breezed through the book in one day. While it frankly probably would have been a dissappointnent to a young me looking for more outward appearing horrors, it is a page turner for adults, especially parents that hold their small pleasures dear and know what they have to lose.

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Posted on October 25, 2011

by Ramsey Campbell (1979)

Ramsey Campbell’s John Horridge is one of the most believable psychopaths I’ve read. His extreme homophobia and irrational paranoia make it a disconcerting, but interesting read, as most of The Face That Must Die takes us into his inner thoughts and ravings.

It’s little wonder that Campbell based the character on someone with schizophrenia that he knew well, his own mother. The perspective is eerie and realistic.

The other characters: drug abusing boyfriends, artists, and struggling young women and the settings, like a depressing housing estate, are equally vivid in the hands of Campbell, who is highly regarded in the horror genre (this is the first I’ve read by him).

The strange photo real montage illustrations by JK Potter, however, do not really reflect the mood and descriptions in the book, which takes place in the 1970’s in Liverpool. They will however raise the eyebrows of anyone looking over your shoulder at what you are reading.

I’d be curious to read more from Campbell, as this is a unique, unnerving take on the oft repeated serial killer novel.

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Posted on July 15, 2011