The ghosts are moving tonight, restless… hungry…In just a moment I’ll show you the only really haunted house in the world.
I have been trying to review this film since the first Horrorfest, but something always seems to gum up the works. This is one of my all time favorite horror films and my favorite Vincent Price film.
I had never heard of this film, but if it has Vincent Price you know I’m all over it.
Then I watched it and saw it is one of the best horror films ever made, with everything you could want:
So do you dare continue on?
So the film starts off with the scariest opening I have ever seen. All we have is a black screen and screaming from men and women.
Can you imagine hearing that full volume in a darken theater?
I can imagine people were freaking out.
We then are met by Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr.) who warns us about the house and how we should stay away:
Watson Pritchard:The ghosts are moving tonight, restless… hungry. May I introduce myself? I’m Watson Pritchard. In just a moment I’ll show you the only really haunted house in the world. Since it was built a century ago, seven people, including my brother, have been murdered in it. Since then, I’ve owned the house. I only spent one night then and when they found me in the morning, I… I was almost dead.
AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We then cut to wealthy businessman Fredrick Loren (Vincent Price). He has rented the House on Haunted Hill for a party,
inviting five people to attend and promising them each $10,000 if they stay the whole night.
As soon as they pull up to the house, strange things begin happening. A chandelier almost kills a guest when it falls,
And another guest gets knocked unconscious,
And it doesn’t stop there. It turns out that all is not happy with the Loren life. Fredrick is angry with his wife as he believes her to be a gold digger and trying to murder him.
Frederick Loren: Do you remember the fun we had when you poisoned me?
Annabelle Loren: [laughs] Something you ate, the doctor said.
Frederick Loren: Yes, arsenic on the rocks…[grabs Annabelle] Annabelle, you’d do it again if you thought you’d get away with it, wouldn’t you?
But Annabelle (Carole Ohmart) says that he is a jealous, crazy psychopath who has already killed three wives and is going to add her to his dead list.
Annabelle Loren: My husband is sometimes insane with jealousy. Nothing matters to him!
Lance Schroeder: Would he hurt you?
Annabelle Loren: He would kill me if he could…You know, of course, that I’m his fourth wife. The first simply disappeared; the other two died…All his doctors said heart attacks. Two girls in their 20s. Lance… I don’t want to join them.
Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? And which is a killer?
We are given the history of the house with its gruesome murders, from beheadings to being thrown in acid.
Ahhh!
They are locked in with no way out, one guest is nearly strangled to death, one having a nervous breakdown, and one murdered!
AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which one is the killer? Or is it a ghost?
Watch it yourself to find out. I will not ruin the ending of this masterpiece.
By the time this posts, I know Horrorfest won’t be finished, so you know what I’ll be doing tonight; but whatever you do I hope you have fun, get candy, and stay safe!
That’s what we’re trying to find out! We’re trying to find out who killed him, and where, and with what!
So last year I had planned to review this film as it had just reached its 30th anniversary, but unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to and it was pushed back to this year.
I love the game Clue. I have been playing it as a child and still do. Out of everything this is my game. I didn’t read/watch all those mysteries for nothing!
I rarely ever lose, that’s how good I am at this.
I’m on FIRE!
So one day after playing, my friend Stella asked if we had ever seen the film version of the game.
What
I DIDN’T KNOW THAT THERE WAS A FILM!!! We decided that we must watch it immediately.
So six strangers are invited to a mansion on a hill. There they meet the English Butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry), and French maid Yvette (Colleen Camp). It turns out that all are being blackmailed and have been invited here.
Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren) is the owner of an escort business and was found out by Mr. Boddy. Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn) has had five husbands who “disappeared”, the last having “killed” himself by cutting off his head and manhood. Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd) lost his psychiatric license when he slept with his patients. Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull) has been caught in the act with prostitutes, Mr. Green (Michael McKean) is a homosexual, and Mrs Peacock (Eileen Brennan) was taking bribes.
When Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving) shows up, he gives each of the six invited guests a weapon.
Mr. Boddy reveals his plan:
Mr. Boddy: In your hands, you each have a lethal weapon. If you denounce me to the police, you will also be exposed and humiliated. I’ll see to that in court. But, if one of you kills Wadsworth now, no one but the seven of us will ever know. He has the key to the front door, which he said would only be opened over his dead body. I suggest we take him up on that offer. The only way to avoid finding yourselves on the front pages is for one of you to kill Wadsworth. NOW.
The lights go out but Wadsworth hasn’t been killed, instead it was Mr. Boddy. With all having a reason to kill him, there is only one question.
I won’t continue as this is a film you should see on your own. It is comedic, mysterious, and has a good sense of drama. The only thing I didn’t care for was that the characters don’t dress in the colors they are in the game. The beginning introduction moves a bit slow, although the dialogue is fast, but otherwise I thought it was a fun film.
But if any of it fell into the wrong hands… I’m well aware of the risks.
So now we come to our last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle review of Horrorfest V. Will they be back next year? I don’t know. But for now, let’s get this review on the road.
If you’ve been following me you’ve read this already, but for the new readers I’m giving a little background as to why I choose a TMNT film. If you have seen it already, feel free to skip ahead
So this is our third installment of four reviews of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ films.
So I know those of you who haven’t been following me, and have stumbled upon this post are probably really confused. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? As a horror film? NO WAY.
I know you are all saying to yourselves, hey this is a superhero movie, not a horror film. Au contraire, you see the turtles are radioactively enhanced to be larger; agile, smarter, etc. In fact the only thing that separates them from other radioactively changed creatures: such as the ants in Them, the giant spider in the Tarantula, or even Godzilla. They choosing to use their abilities for good and be superheroes doesn’t change the fact of how they were made.
This Post We Are Switching Things UP!!
So I started Horrorfest V with the 2014 live action film, and worked backwards to the 2007 animated version. The former had a Frankenstein-like quality and the latter had monsters. I decided to skip Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) when they travel back in time to Japan, and went with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). Now we are going to look into the sequel where we get the turtles backstory along with more mutated creatures.
So we saw a big shift with this film. Because of complaints about violence, the film was lighter than the original and the turtles hardly use their weapons. Casey Jones was seen as “too violent” and his character replaced by one of the turtle stuntmen actors, Ernie Reyes Jr., being the teenager Keno.
They also had a bit of a fight over the story. The comic book writers wanted them to follow their stories, like the first film did, while the TV execs wanted them to follow the TV as that was more mainstream and child friendly. What we have is a combination of the two, with elements from both.
After their battle with the Foot clan, the Turtles found themselves homeless. April took them in, and they have been living in her apartment since then, off of a lot of pizza delivery.
Pizza delivery boy, Keno, is out dropping off his pizza’s when he comes across a burglary.
Not good
Keno: Hold it! You guys are under arrest.
Burglar: What are you, night security?
Keno: No, I’m a pizza delivery.
[the gang laugh and attack, and Keno easily kicks their butts]
Keno: Did I mention I also study the martial arts?
But even with that, Keno is no match for their numbers. Luckily he has a a certain, special crew looking out for him.
But Keno has seen them, and four giant turtles is something he won’t forget easily.
AMAZING!
Back at the house the turtles get into am argument over whether to stay hidden or reveal themselves. Raphael is eager to be “out of the shadows”.
Couldn’t resist
Splinter: Their world can never be ours.
Michaelangelo: Uh… Not even pizza?
Splinter: [after pause] Pizza’s okay.
[the turtles sigh with relief]
Michaelangelo: Man, give a guy a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Tatsu has grabbed the remaining members of the Foot and have them situated in a junkyard to regroup. He is planning on taking lead control of the Foot, when he is interrupted.
The Shredder
Yes Shredder lived! And he is back with a deep rooted vengeance and a thirst for blood. Turtle blood.
So April is out reporting on Techno Global Research Industries (TGRI) as they are doing a cleanup of a few spilled canisters. April feels as if there is more to the story, but she can’t get anything else out of Professor Jordan Perry.
After she is gone, Professor Perry reveals there is a lot more going on.
[after being given a giant mutated dandelion]
Professor Jordan Perry: You know, if the soil’s contaminated so far away, there must be more leaky canisters than we thought.
TGRI Assisstant #1: Well, how can that be? They were only buried fifteen years ago.
Professor Jordan Perry: Fifteen, fifty. Just make sure that the rest are found and removed!
TGRI Assistant #1: Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to invite the press.
Professor Jordan Perry: Sometimes the best place to hide is right out in public.
TGRI Assisstant #1: But if any of it fell into the wrong hands…
[Perry looks as giant dandelion]
Professor Jordan Perry: I’m well aware of the risks.
And unbeknownst to them, April’s new camera guy is watching.
And he’s not just a reporter who has stumbled onto this story; but a member of the Foot.
Not good.
When Shredder finds out about this, he wants Dr. Perry as he has a plan.
Back with the turtles, they have been watching the report and fighting whether to continue or watch something new. Splinter comes in, and when he sees the report reveals something the Turtles never expected…that company was the one that created/housed the mutagen that made them all.
WHAT!
They decide they need to find Dr. Perry and find out the answers to their questions, and to why or how they were created.
Both groups head down to TGRI, after the Dr. and the last canister of mutagen.
They all fight, but Shredder makes off with both prizes.
When they return to the apartment, they have another surprise. Keno has come to “deliver pizzas” but in reality to track down these things he saw. And what he sees is a shock.
[about to leave April’s apartment, having seen Raph’s foot pretruding from behind the changing curtain and becoming suspicious about their weapons “she” has lying around]
Keno: One last thing, though. I think you might want to know about THIS! [slams his foot on Raph’s]
Raphael: ARGH! [Raph comes out from behind the curtain]
Keno: It’s you guys!
Raphael:[cluthching his foot and being held back by Donny, Leo, and Mikey] Ah, ah! Let me hurt him. Please! Tell me I can hurt him! Please, please! Grr!
[Splinter puts his hand on Keno’s shoulder]
Splinter: I think you’d better sit down.
[Keno sees Splinter and faints]
After Keno wraps his head around what is going on, he wants to help. He tells them how the Foot are recruiting people and that maybe he should go down and be a spy for them. This is rejected by Leonardo as he knows that if Keno, a pizzaguy, found them, then the Foot will be there soon. It is time to find a new home.
However, Raphael doesn’t always listen to Leo, and he and Keno come up with a plan.
Meanwhile, Shredder is trying to force Dr. Perry to redo the mutation that happened to the turtles. He wants a duo of monsters that he can control and unleash on the turtles. His crew searched all New York, and all they could get was a wolf and a snapping turtle. Dr. Perry continues the experiment and they become Tokka and Rahzar.
These took place of Rocksteady and Bebop, the mutated Rhino and Warthog.
But while these are gruesome creations, they aren’t exactly what the Shredder wanted.
And they unleash him out in the city.
The turtles, san Raphael, have found a new home in an abandoned subway area. They head out to try and help the city while Keno and Raphael try to infiltrate the Foot. They pass the tests and Keno is in, but then Raphael is captured by the Foot.
Keno escapes and warns the turtles who head out to the junkyard.
There they meet Tokka and Rahzar and discover that while they are babies, they have recived a higher dose of the mutagen and are much stronger. They save Dr. Perry and head back to their new home.
Back at their place, Donatello questions Dr. Perry about the mutagen and finds out it was an accident. This upsets him as he thought, maybe, there was more to why they were created.
Splinter: What troubles you, my son?
Donatello: I-I don’t know. I just thought there would be more to it; to the ooze, to you know, us!
Leonardo: I know!
Donatello: I just always thought there would be something that… I thought we’d find out we were special.
Splinter: Do not confuse the professor’s words with your current worth, my son.
Donatello: But I don’t believe him! There’s just got to be more to it!
But soon, they must focus to the task at hand. Shredder has given April a message, the Turtles must fight Tokka and Rahzar that night, or else they will be unleashed in Central Park. They are now on a timeline and must work quickly to figure out a way to stop them.
They discover that the creatures must eat their antidote and Michelangelo comes up with the idea to infuse donuts with them.
They try their plan out, but things do not go right.
They end up breaking a club wall and take the fight to the dance floor, music by Vanilla Ice.
Shredder has drinken the last of the serum and mutated gimself.
Is the Shredder dead? Never! You can never stop him!
Back at home Splinter asks about the fight. The turtles try to hide some of the events, but the people of New York saw a LOT.
Splinter: Were you seen?
Leonardo: Of course not, Master Splinter.
Donatello: We practiced Ninja.
Michaelangelo: [off camera] The art of invisibility.
[Splinter appears from behind Raph] Splinter: [holds up the New York Post, with a front page picture of the turtles on stage, with the headline “Ninja Rap is Born!”] Practice harder.
[the turtles groan]
Splinter: Ten flips, now! And remember: “Go Ninja, go Ninja, go!” I made another funny! Ha ha ha ha!
A fantastic film, and the last of our series. And because I just love this guys I decided I just had to be one for Halloween.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Man, I love being a turtle!
So in the Miss Marple mystery we have quite a few tea parties. And what do we need at a tea party?
Tea and Scones!
As I have a tree that produces a lot of lemons, I am always trying to find lemon recipes to use them. This Lemon Scone recipe comes from Eat Up and Slim Down: Tried and True Recipes and Tips from Real Weight-Loss Winners by Jane Kirby and David Joachim.
Ingredients:
2 Cups of Unbleached or All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon of Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon of Ground Cardamom or Coriander
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
3 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Safflower Oil
3 Egg Whites
1/2 Cup of Low-Fat Plain or Lemon Yogurt
1 Tablespoon of Grated Lemon Peel
Directions:
Preheat the Oven to 400 degrees F and coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, combine cardamom or coriander, salt, and 2…
As this year marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, I thought why not add an episode to Horrorfest? I know some of you might think it is weird, but they meet all kinds of different…creatures and specimens on their adventures that some are quite horrific.
So the Starship crew has been called to pick up a 17-year-old boy found by another Earth ship, Antares. He was found to be the only survivor of his colony, living alone for years and surviving we don’t know how.
He’s been living there on his own since he was a child? how is that possible?
And because he has been living on his own, he has no idea how to be with people.
Not good
He is introduced to Yeoman Rand and it is his first time meeting a girl.
He locks in on her which is not good.
Not good
Now Dr. McCoy and Kirk notice some strange things about him, in how he interacts with everyone but they just shrug it off as he doesn’t know what he is doing.
He gets Yeoman Rand a present, her favorite perfume. But how did he know? And where did he get it from as they don’t sell that in the ship’s stores. I don’t know about you, but to me that says CREEPY!!!
Later they are having recreational time and Charlie wants to spend it with Yeoman Rand, showing her his card tricks he learned. But Rand wants to listen to Uhura’s singing. So Charlie gets rid of Uhura’s voice and takes over the attention in the room.
This is not good
What Charlie wants, Charlie gets. And he doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process. And that it why I choose this episode, while it isn’t a more monstrous creature, its the behavior that is monstrous and scary in the way he hurts other but how this is something you could actually come across in the real world. Like last year’s Buffy the Vampire episode, the scariest ones are ones that personality and characters could be something you’d come across in real life.
The Antares ship is destroyed disappeared…no one knows why or how. I have a thought…
Charlie!
Captain Kirk is distressed about what has happened with the Antares, and speaks of it to Spock during their chess game. Spock you know is always thinking, and has settled that there is something odd about Charlie.
He and Spock play chess, but when he loses he gets upset.
And melts the chess game with his mind!
Yeoman Rand tries to introduce him to a girl his age, but he’s not interested. There’s only one girl on his mind.
Rand tells him it isn’t going to work out and then goes to Captain Kirk. Kirk says he will talk to Charlie but he doesn’t understand how far his obsession with Rand has gone. I mean:
Charlie is
So Kirk talks to Charlie:
Capt. Kirk: There are a million things in this universe you can have and a million things you can’t have. It’s no fun facing that, but that’s the way things are.
Charlie Evans: Then what am I going to do?
Capt. Kirk: Hang on tight and survive. Everybody does.
But it doesn’t really get into Charlie’s head. Kirk senses that Charlie needs an outlet for his adolescence emotions
And takes him to the gym to teach him self defense, control, and how to release anger and such in a good way.
But when someone laughs at him he sends them away. Yes, like Billy in The Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”, he has incredible powers and people who upset him are destroyed.
Kirk tries to assert his power of being Captain:
But Charlie is no longer interested in listening. He wants what he wants and he wants it now!
And that’s what makes him terrifying. Billy was scary as a kid with icredible powers, as kids act on feelings and don’t have the capability of deeper thinking yet. While a teenager IS capable and knows right from wrong; and is choosing the wrong.
He then takes control of the ship, the people, everything. If anyone talks back, they vanish too. Kirk and Spock try to come up with a plan and almost get him; but Charlie is too powerful. He is going to destroy them all, but then everyone is seized by the Thasins, an ancient species thought to be destroyed.
The Thasian: We gave him the power so he could live. He will use it – always. And he will destroy you, or, you will be forced to destroy him.
They take him away:
Charlie Evans: I wanna stay… stay… stay… stay… sta…
And return the crew and everyone else Charlie disappeared. And continue on their mission.
janeaustenrunsmylife 