Tag Archives: halloween

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“Spooks” – The Three Stooges – 3D Slapstick

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Our three favorite saps are schlepping this time as detectives and get a client who wants them to find his missing daughter. The boys take the job and go “undercover” dressed as pie salesmen (guess what’s coming? lol) to the area where the girl was last seen. It turns out that the dilapidated house they stumble into actually conceals a secret laboratory of a mad scientist who is intending to use the lost girl’s noggin as a brain transplant for his gigantic, bi-pedal, caged gorilla! Dr. Frankenstein is spinning in his grave!

This episode adopted the Fifties fad of the 3D process then popular in theaters. What you get as a result are two eye-gouging fingers shown going directly in the camera along with knives, pitchforks, water streams, and, yes, pies! Quick! Duck from the whipped cream laden pie before it splatters on your face, clothes, etc.

Not exactly “spooky” but great fun. Moe, Larry and Shemp, this time out, throw out the zany, zinger jokes and lay it on thick with the pies at the comedic shorts’ conclusion. Perfect Halloween fare!

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“Friday The 13th Part 3” (1982) – Watch out or Jason will poke your eye out

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Three dimensional film effects highlight the hijinx in the continuing adventures of slasher Jason Vorhees. The filmmakers trot out a new batch of interchangeable teen characters and proceed to have Jason creatively dispatch them in novel ways. It all becomes tedious and nauseating before long as objects like spears and knives thrust into the camera on their way to impaling and destroying said teens.

Jason himself receives a machete to the cranium but never fear, he cannot die and his useless spirit continues on for at least seven more film adventures. Similar in nature to the “Halloween” franchise that lumbers on to this day with its equally unstoppable central character.

Just a note: email me at aswartz40@gmail.com and the first response I get will receive a $25.00 Amazon gift card. Happy Halloween!

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Black Christmas (1974) – Blueprint for Future Slasher Flicks

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Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas” appeared many years before the onslaught of slasher films featuring idiosyncratic, stalking killers. This killer likes to freak out future victims by calling them on the phone and issuing gibberish about his foul intentions. There are many POV impressions from the killer’s vantage point. Victims are dispatched gruesomely and left in their lifeless, idle suspension to hang or sit undiscovered in the sorority house attic where some of the killer’s work unfolds. Many of these motifs we would see again in other films.

Plenty of quirky characters inhabit this world and there are a few characters who exhibit inner turmoil that may or may not be related to the serial killer on the loose but it is up to the viewer to decipher who is the most likely suspect. Keir Dullea of “2001: A Space Odyssey” plays a pianist who may be harboring dark secrets. Anybody who smashes a defenseless piano is certainly going to be under the microscope. John Saxon plays another low key, baffled cop who needs to find the killer fast before he strikes again.

Bob Clark directed a few other dark fantasies. Namely, “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things” (zombies) and “Dead of Night” (reanimated corpse). And, “A Christmas Story”!

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Rusty West’s “A Collection of Strange Wilderness Stories – January 2019”

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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.

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Halloween Strobe Light and Sound Effects (2019)

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Here is a seasonal fun item.  Rite Aide sells this adjustable party strobe light which also includes spooky sound effects of a haunted house, howling winds, thunder and lightening, creaking doors and general Halloween inspired noise.  Buy a couple and have competing audio and video mayhem in your own living room.  Michael Myers mask is optional but necessary.  Ah.  The possibilities!

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HALLOWEEN THEME – ISN’T IT TIME YOU TRIED?

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It is that time of year again.  Want to get into the spirit?  Why not pick up your guitar and learn the “Halloween” (1978) theme?  I am referring to the music and movie created by John Carpenter that has become very ingrained in our culture.  Very remarkable, that!

Here is some guitar tablature that will allow you to easily follow along and learn the tune.  Let the celebration begin!

 

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Another Five Choices For A Halloween Marathon Movie Day/Night

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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!

  1.  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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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!
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

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TOP 5 MOVIES FOR MY HALLOWEEN VIEWING

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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.

  1.  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?
  2. 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.
  3. 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!
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

 

 

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BLACULA – 1972- VAMPIRES RUN AMOK!

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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.

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The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) – Assorted Debauchery

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Gruesome Hammer Films reinterpretation of the classic Universal monster movie vehicle of a mad, maverick doctor and his attempts to bring life to dead bodies.  Made in 1957, this horror remake is a graphic, Technicolor chronicle of the despicable practices that Dr. Frankenstein engages in.  Portrayed as a kind of sadistic, cold-hearted deviant, Peter Cushing is marvelous as the doctor.  Cushing carries on an affair with his housekeeper even while his long suffering fiancé is sleeping upstairs in the castle.  Having previously promised the housekeeper marriage, as well, Cushing laughs in her face and says he never had any such intention.  When he learns that the housekeeper is pregnant and threatens exposing his behind closed door hobby of reanimating dead things, the good doctor locks the lass in the lab with the hideous creature and lets him rip her to pieces.  Christopher Lee is more a less seen as one of the unluckiest characters in movie history.  The “creature” never asked for this treatment but endures a horrific, miserably short lived existence.  The brute stumbles out of Frankenstein’s estate and out in to the countryside.  Killing at least one other unfortunate he has come across, the Creature is put out of its misery with a bullet to the head by Frankenstein’s assistant.  If that isn’t enough, Dr. Frankenstein brings the beast back to life and the brain damaged result is converted in to a shambling, semi obedient pet following Frankenstein’s commands.  It is a pathetic sight indeed.  Frankenstein’s dream of creating the perfect “Superman” does in fact turn into a compete failure.  This Hammer Films reboot makes that point quite painfully clear.

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Kinda Creepy

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OK.  Maybe the visual equivalent of paint drying at times but a genuinely creepy situation of some unknown creature baying in the woods.  The second half, with the rocks being thrown, features some sort of grunting primate perhaps?  I think I am glad that I didn’t get to see what was making all the racket.  Sanity is a terrible thing to waste.  Hehe.

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Music Of The Spheres – Alien Composed?

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I recommend this Top Ten List of Strange Space Noise recorded over the years by scientists and researchers.  Marvel at the mutterings of an actual Black Hole!  Hear the astonishing sonic wash of space telemetry (Brief Interruption Here.  Here is an explanation of Space Telemetry:  Data Transmission Space telemetry transmits information in the form of a radio signal. Sensors on the spacecraft collect analog data–a photograph of Mars for example–and send it back to Earth. Early space telemetry systems used Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to transmit data.) in all its glory!  You get the idea.  There was an audio CD set released some years back that offered NASA’s recordings of similar Sounds From Space.  There were four CD’s in the set!  But it was pretty cool stuff.  You might be hard pressed to recreate some of the sounds with a synthesizer.  Wonder what ever happened to it?  Maybe the Deep Space creators silently invaded my space and took it away from my undeserving hands.