“A Quiet Place” is a great horror/suspense picture about the need to keep as quiet as possible in any activity you may be involved in or chance the risk of being mutilated and dismembered by some mysterious creatures straight out of one of your worst nightmares. We don’t find out the origin of the monsters this time out, maybe more on that in “A Quiet Place 2” slated for release later this year. Speech isn’t even advised unless there is some form of audible mask such as a water fall or falling rain. Wow. That is quite a life restriction. The movie’s characters, including stars Emma Stone and John Krasinsky, must rely on sign language most of the movie. There are precious few actual exchanges of dialogue which makes this a very entrenched concept that drew me into the plight these endangered people face. Anyway, a family moves on foot (shoes are ditched. Squeaky rubber?) out of a town devoid of living beings before eventually set up their base of operations on a farm. Requisite security measures are set up amid the off grid existence but never put it past the beasties to figure out where the meal ticket is and how to breach the defenses. Well directed by John Krasinsky who stars along with his real life wife Emily Blunt. I guess no one snores in this family because that form of noise would be a dead give away to the sonically acute creatures. Also not sure how people use the bathroom or prevent the old farm house from creaking too much, etc. Still a gripping, horrifying, at times, monster movie.
Category Archives: Horror
“Burnt Offerings” (1976) creeps me out
“Burnt Offerings” brings to mind another haunted mansion flick, “The Shining”. BO features a family renting a stately manor and acting as caretakers to the property and the elderly lady supposedly inhabiting an upstairs room. It isn’t long before the heebee-jeebees set in and the wife and husband get unwillingly possessed by some dark forces lingering about the place. The husband has a bad spell and nearly drowns his son in the pool but then returns to some semblance of normality while his wife starts behaving rather oddly. As you can well imagine, no good can come from any of this and you’d be right on. Karen Black and Oliver Reed star as the husband and wife playthings of the sinister house minions. Bette Davis is also on hand and quickly is smacked down with ill health by staying in the nasty house. Nice, eerie music throughout and Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” and “The Night Stalker” fame provides direction. One of those movies that will make you start at every home creak when you watch it at night.
HALLOWEEN NIGHTMARE (2019)
Michael gets some guitar time in before returning to his favorite vocation. Happy Halloween!
Rusty West’s “A Collection of Strange Wilderness Stories – January 2019”
Rusty West’s You Tube videos and books talking about missing people, weird occurrences and Bigfoot have become some of my favorites. I just like his writing style and narration. I think it is very direct and entertaining. But also very spooky! Case in point, in this collection of tales, is the tale of the raided chicken coop. That one gives me the chills. Check out Rusty.
DICK MILLER, R.I.P.
Sadness at the passing of great character actor Dick Miller. A wise cracking, world weary, dependable presence in many horror and science fiction pictures including “The Terminator”, “The Howling”, “Gremlins” and an early starring role in the Roger Corman directed “A Bucket of Blood” which is linked to here. Macabre in the extreme, “Blood” is the tale of a destitute artist who turns his fortunes around and becomes the darling of the local Art crowd after he adopts a shocking new change to his sculpting style. Can you guess how? A twisted, enjoyable romp made back when Miller was younger and fresher and not his more recognizable, grizzled self. Miller was 90.
Another Five Choices For A Halloween Marathon Movie Day/Night
When you get right down to it, there are a ton of potential choices for Halloween movie viewing marathons. For the sake of brevity, I am choosing just five selections which will still take you a good day to get through so plan ahead to take the day off from your work or school grind!
- Wolfen (1981) – a cop is assigned to investigate a series of animal attacks. Is there a pack of werewolves on the loose in modern day New York? Some creepy situations and a suspenseful story should keep you entertained throughout. Albert Finney and Gregory Hines are the stars of this one.
- Attack Of The Mushroom People (1963) – OK. This one is really freaky. A group of young folk out on a boat trip have an accident and are stranded on a mysterious island. They take refuge in another landlocked but larger ship. The ship’s journal is examined and a warning is discovered: don’t eat the island’s ample mushroom supply. In order to survive, they’ve got to eat and it’s just easier to grab some of the island’s main staple. That, as you will find out, is a big mistake. Dripping with atmosphere and garish color, this is a must see shocker.
- The Thing (1951) – Science fiction film cornerstone that still maintains its freshness to this day. An alien spaceship is discovered buried in the ice by an American military team stationed in a remote arctic outpost. Although the ship is destroyed, the craft’s only surviving occupant is accidentally reawakened and is in a thoroughly pissed off frame of mind. A last stand ensues as humans battle a formidable alien foe to the death. Essential viewing!
- The Lost Continent (1968) – More whacked out material as a group aboard a doomed ocean freighter become stranded in the Sargasso Sea, a place of strange clogging and rampant seaweed and some cool matte painting shots of a ship graveyard. Yes. There have been others who have also unfortunately succumbed to the deadly area. Attempting to find a way out of the morass, the ship’s inhabitants have a run in with a population of lost in time Spanish conquistadors who rule the region by force. Also thrown into the mix are some oversized creepy crawlies who see anything on two legs as there next meal. This is all great fun.
- Lifeforce (1985) – A huge alien ship is investigated by a team of astronauts from Earth and three seemingly human survivors from the other worldly ship are brought onboard the astronaut’s space shuttle. One by one the human crew succumb to some bizarre malady with only a sole survivor who incinerates the shuttle and takes an escape pod back to Earth. A rescue mission recovers the three aliens from the wrecked shuttle to the detriment of the human population as they come out of a dormant state and seek out our life sustaining energy or lifeforce. A plague ensues on Earth as these energy vampires plunder our planet. Epic destruction and carnage result. Pretty entertaining!
So there are another five fine films that I would personally take a day/night to sit through consecutively for a perfect Halloween viewing experience!
TOP 5 MOVIES FOR MY HALLOWEEN VIEWING
I have given a minute or two of thought to what I would enjoy most viewing on Halloween. I would most definitely need to take the day off of work because this lineup would probably consume a good 10 hours. Sacrifices must be made! Granted this is the first of what may be a series of some of my most adored movies piled together in one marathon viewing. These movies are what came off the top of my head at the time and can definitely be mixed and matched and replaced with other selections. I think that makes sense.
- 5 Million Years To Earth – 1967 – A Hammer Films science fiction entry that postulates that some long ago Martians visited our remote ancestors and planted the seeds of intelligence in our shaggy, far removed, ancient ape-like relatives. Is the recently uncovered spaceship located in the London underground still harboring a Martian presence?
- The Mummy – 1959 – This is a great one to curl up with your favorite snack and beverage and soak up the suspense. Very entertaining and satisfying mummy on the loose tale. Christopher Lee is mainly silent and heavily bandaged as the title character. Peter Cushing is out to stop The Mummy’s diabolical rampage.
- The Fearless Vampire Killers – 1967 – Roman Polanski directed and co-starred in this hugely atmospheric comedy/horror piece about a couple of bumbling monster hunters who try to rescue a damsel who is fortified in a castle full of undead vampires. Great sets!
- Horror Express – 1972 – Another Cushing/Lee vehicle set aboard a trans-Siberian train that transports an ages old ape man found frozen in ice. The recently unearthed specimen seems to not be fully dead and can swap human hosts! A true hoot.
- Invasion – 1966 – A hospital is literally held hostage as an alien presence temporarily makes a stop on Earth and has to recover its lost property before it can again go back to outer space. It’s bad enough being in a hospital, as it is!
Like I said, I will make another list of five more films that it would be Heaven to just spend Halloween day watching back to back. Maybe I’ll defer it until Thanksgiving or Christmas. I’ve got time off then. Check some of these films out and enjoy!
HAMMER HORROR FUN – DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966)
Back when Hammer Films were all the rage and knocking horror fans dead at the box office, “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” marked the return of Christopher Lee to the title roll of the infamous undead vampire king. He had gone away from the role after his turn as the blood sucker in the remarkable “Horror of Dracula” (1958), one of Hammer Films’ first stabs at rebooting the Universal monster cycle from films decades before. Lee appeared in Hammer Films such as “The Gorgon” (1964) and “She” (1965). He just wasn’t interested in playing Dracula. But through whatever form of alchemy and monetary incentive, Lee menaced again in “Dracula: Prince of Darkness”. It had to be money that got him back because this is not the juiciest script that Lee could have gotten. He has no lines of dialogue but sneers and hisses a lot and manhandles his intended victims. This is a fun view, though. Dracula has a life long human servant who makes sure that two couples spend the night in Dracula’s old castle. You see, Dracula is now no more than collected dust from the last time he was destroyed in “The Brides of Dracula” (1960). Lee didn’t appear in that entry. But, anyway, the servant dispatches one of the guests in the bloodiest way possible in order to bathe Dracula’s ashes in the life giving, red stuff. Before long, the King of Vampires is back terrorizing the countryside in his endless quest for fresh blood. Plenty of atmosphere, moody music and heroics from Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Hammer veteran Andrew Kier.
BLACULA – 1972- VAMPIRES RUN AMOK!
African prince is “converted” to blood thirsty, undead vampire by Dracula. The Prince becomes a vampire and progresses through the centuries turning others in to vampires in his passing. Very entertaining vampire flick from the 1970’s that follows Blacula’s modern day wake of death and destruction as he feeds his hunger for blood. Naturally, a lot of the film takes place at night which lends a creepy air and some of the surprise vampire attacks are startling. Some of the action is clumsy and dumb but William Marshall as Blacula lends a sinister, menacing presence. Fantasy movie veteran Elisha Cook Jr. turns up as a hospital attendant. (See “The Night Stalker”, “House on Haunted Hill”). As I have said many times before, they don’t make them like this anymore. This movie has a look that is ALL 1970’s.
Vincent Price’s Dracula (1982) – Good Halloween Fare
A documentary detailing the history of the vampire character Dracula, assembled using various movie clips and the narration of horror icon, Vincent Price. You’ll see clips from the silent “Nosferatu” and other cinematic appearances featuring the ancient blood sucker such as Lugosi in “Mark of the Vampire”, and the 1950’s alternative vampire film, “The Vampire” . “VPD” is a good flick to curl up by the fire to watch as we come upon the Autumn season and move closer to Halloween. Heavy on the garlic fries. Hehe.
THE THAW – 2009 – CREEPY CLIMATE CHANGE CRAWLIES – UPDATED REVIEW
The premise of this queasy little tale is that climate change, aka global warming, has caused the partial thawing of a wooly mammoth up in Northern climes that is infested with an ancient parasite that emerges ready and willing to infest a New Age. The roughly cockroach sized bugs burrow under your skin and lay eggs that basically feed on their host and then emerge ready to find a new home. This movie is definitely not for the squeamish! Yes. I felt my skin crawl on more than one occasion. There are numerous grotesque set pieces throughout this flick.
All in all, an engaging horror film with a cameo from Val Kilmer as the scientist who finds the insects and reiterates the potential horrors lurking unseen that will be unleashed by climate change. Whether that is true or not is of course speculation or inevitability depending on your point of view.
HARLAN ELLISON – R.I.P.
Legendary science fiction and fantasy writer Harlan Ellison has passed away. Call him an iconoclast, outspoken, a larger than life character who didn’t suffer fools, especially those he felt tampered with the integrity of his work. He reached a settlement with CBS 40 years after his script for “Star Trek”-TOS, “City on the Edge of Forever” had been delivered to reclaim his share of the profits generated from his work. He had more impressions on the television industry collected in his series “The Glass Teat”. Acidic observations to say the least.
I count Ellison as an early influence in my life. He was outrageous, profane, and definitely embodied a punk sensibility. He didn’t take shit from anybody and let the world know it. When I was maybe a teen or 12 years old, the years recede rapidly, I found out that Ellison would be in town at a book store reading from his latest work. I got my dad to bring me down there and crowded in to the small store to be in the Man’s presence. He read from his book and the profanity flowed. It felt a little awkward with my dad there but he understood the content much better than I could hope to! A good memory.
I highly recommend the novella “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream”. I reread it recently and it retains its nightmarish hold. The idea has been a source of inspiration through the years. Call it “Skynet” before it was known as such. You’ll see what I mean.
Harlan Ellison was a great and influential writer. Go find his stuff and enjoy!
Theodore Roosevelt’s book “The Wilderness Hunter” Contains Scary Bigfoot Story – 1880’s
I have come across this story a couple of times and see it as a truly chilling account of hunters turning into prey. Hunters off in a very remote wilderness “trespass” across an unknown creature’s domain. Things go very downhill from there. This story is given an air of credibility when it is discovered that this tale was relayed to Theodore Roosevelt by an old Mountain Man and included in Roosevelt’s book, “The Wilderness Hunter”.
After reading it several times over the years, it has yet to loose its fearsome, chilling effect. Probably my favorite old time Bigfoot report. Of course, come to find out that there are so many more stories of a related nature waiting to be told both modern and antique. A little frightening when you think about it.
Well, pull up a blanket and prepare to have your flesh crawl as you listen to this vocal recital of Bauman’s story as presented by You Tuber Bob Gymlan. My hat’s off to you, Sir. A nice choice of material and a well done reading.
THE MIST (2007) – PHANTASMAGORICAL BUMMER
Watching “The Mist” again recently got me to thinking about the original source material, Stephen King’s novella, and the faint memories I had of reading it. I watched the movie and then reread the story. The movie is very faithful to the story. But then there is that ending of the movie….
Once of the single most downer conclusions in popular culture storytelling, I would have to say. Granted, the scenario is imagined in the story but not actually executed. That grim prospect is dutifully carried out in the movie. Oh, it is an awful choice to go down that path. I suppose there is some solace for the rest of the town’s or country’s inhabitants by concluding it this way but there is also a great devastation for a few characters.
Anyway, the story concerns an unexplainable fog or mist descending on a Maine town and the unseen, monstrous “things” which hide in the white cover and attack the unwary. A definite sense of dread hangs over this story and the hard choices which have to be made in order to survive the shadowy beasts and the crumbling humanity which results from the dire circumstances the characters find themselves in. There truly is no easy way out of the situation. Or answers.
I advise you to take the time to read King’s story and to also watch the movie. Decide for yourself if one is preferable over the other. I choose King’s written work. Because the movie just kicks me in the balls.