It feels so good to see the bad guys scared for a change.
So you might have remembered me talking in the past about how much I love Frank Peretti’s books. Peretti wrote Christian novels, ranging from suspense, to horror, to everyday fiction; but most have to do with angels battling demons.
This film is an adaption of one of his books, Hangman’s Curse, so yes it is a Christian film. I know not all of you might be interested in it, but let me say I have shown this film to Christian and non-Christian friends and both liked it. It’s pretty good.
So the movie isn’t exactly like the book, they cut a bunch out-but they kept it pretty similar.
I like this
So the film starts off with young high schooler Abel Frye committing suicide. He had been tormented so much he felt it was the only way to stop the pain. This scene is a little intense and I don’t recommend it to anyone who may be triggered by that.
Ouch
Supposedly, he killed himself in the old wing of the school and his ghost haunts the halls helping those who are also bullied.
Fast forward to present time, and we see the high school football game. One high schooler has a freak out and sees the ghost of Abel Frye and goes crazy-ending up in a coma.
This wasn’t the only one who has been affected. There have been several football players who have had the same problem. It is time to call in The Veritas Project.
The Veritas Project consists of a family of four-David, Sarah, and their twin teenagers-Elisha & Elijah Springfield. They have all been heavily trained by police, FBI, etc and sent in to deal with drugs, supernatural or unexplained events.
The principle decides to call the family in. David will be the janitor, Sarah the nurse, Elisha will go into the popular/jocky crowd and Elijah with the nerds/outcasts.
As they start checking out who could be responsible they discover that there are a group of outcasts/goths who have a secret club that practices witchcraft and the occult in order to get Abel Frye to attack those that are bullying them.
As Elisha and Elijah get closer to figure out if the truth is supernatural or physical; one of them gets “cursed” by the spirit of Abel Frye and ends up on the hit list. Will they solve it in time, or will they meet the fate of all the others?
Hmm…
I love this movie and thought it was extremely well done. You should definitely give it a look, especially as the ending is great and something I cannot reveal.
So if you’ve been following me, you are pretty aware of my love of libraries.
And I decided to do a post on my favorite fictional libraries. After all:
So here we go, my top 13 Favorite Fictional Libraries.
13) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag is a fireman in the future, and as a fireman his job is to burn books. Books are now illegal, and it is up to firemen to root out the secret libraries and destroy them. After witnessing a woman willingly burn alive with her library, it gets Guy thinking about what the books contain. It begins with one book, but ends with Guy questioning everything he has ever known.
Why the library is awesome!: So we don’t actually know what is in this library, but if a person is willing to die with it you know it has to hold some amazing things. Even if the books are only valuable to the owner.
A conman salesman, “Professor” Harold Hill (Robert Preston), visits the town of River City, Iowa; and convinces the townspeople that the only way to save their children from becoming bad eggs, is to create a boys’ band. But where to get the instruments? From Professor Harold Hill of course! Marian, the town librarian, is a piano teacher, and the only one who could expose Professor Hill as a fraud, so Professor Hill sets out to seduce her. Along the way Professor Hill changes as he starts to care for the people he plans to con.
Why the library is awesome!: One of the musical numbers is Marian the Librarian in which Professor Hill attempts to seduce Marian by singing and dancing with her around the library. A library in which the librarian and town dance around singing? You get two in one—items to read and a show.
11) The Cat Who… Series
The Cat Who…Series is about amazing reporter Jim “Qwill” Qwilleran who solves murders with the help of his cats. Qwill was a nationally-acclaimed reporter, until he became an alcoholic and lost everything. The first book, The Cat Who Read Backwards, Qwill is trying to put his life back in order and is searching for a job as a reporter. He joins the staff of the Daily Fluxion as a feature writer. After his landlord, the art critic, is killed, Qwill starts investigating with little clues pointed out by his landlord’s cat, Kao K’o Kung (Koko for short). As Qwill continues his investigations he ends up picking up another cat, Yum Yum. In The Cat Who Played Bhrams, Qwill journeys up north to the small town of Mooseville, and visits an old family friend. He ends up inheriting millions, but in order to get them, he has to remain in Moose County. This changes his life forever.
Why the library is awesome!: Qwill is an avid reader and collects as many as he can afford. When he inherits the money, he also receives a stone mansion with a giant library. It holds thousands of books from rare pieces that are worth millions to secondhand and beloved buys.
So the movie begins one Saturday morning when five very different students have been sentenced with detention and are stuck with each other. We have Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), “the basket case” who just came for fun; Andrew Clark (Emilio Esteevez), “the athlete”, who recieved detention for bullying a kid; John Bender (Judd Nelson), “the criminal”, sent there because of his acting up in class; Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), “the princess”, caught skipping school to go shopping; Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), “the brain”, who brought a flare gun to school. At first everyone abides by their cliques, but through the course of the day they all bond together sharing their most personal secrets and working out their dysfunctions.
Why the library is awesome!: A gigantic library with multiple levels and a great sound system! Who wouldn’t want to spend their Saturdays there?
Based on the play Pygmalion, this musical has Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is disgusted with how the English butcher their English. As he is complaining, he runs into a cockney-accented, flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn). He makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering, that he will be able to teach Eliza how to speak so well that people will mistake her for a duchess. Eliza agrees to the bet as she wants to own a high class flower shop. However, they have their work cut out for them, as Professor Higgins methods are helpful, but extremely rude and harsh.
Why the library is awesome!: Henry Higgins may be rude and a jerk, but this professor has one of the best libraries. Why can’t all libraries be like this?
8) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
In the late 19th century, something is destroying ships as they are navigating the seas, cutting huge holes in the sides and completely ruining them. Professor Aronnax, a leading marine biologist, theories that the creature destroying the ships may come from the deepest depths of the ocean, which would give it incredible strength. He joins a crew who has set out to destroy it, taking along his assistant. The ship is destroyed; but Professor Aronnax, his assistant, and whaler Ned Land survive. They find themselves on a giant submarine, the Nautilus, joining its creator Captain Nemo on a journey under the sea.
Why the library is awesome!: This library is a masterpiece as Captain Nemo had thousands of books by the greatest minds. His collection covered science, morals, philosophy, and literature-in every language.
Professor Aronnax: “I thank you for having placed this library at my disposal. It contains treasures…and I shall profit by them.”
In 1290 B.C. Egypt, a high priest Imhotep is caught having an affair with the Pharaoh’s woman. He is put through all the death rites, while still alive, and buried in Hamunaptra. Fast forward to 1932, a French Foreign Legion officer, Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser), finds himself in Hamunaptra, but lost in the desert. Three years later, librarian Evie (Rachel Weisz) is approached by her treasure-hunter brother Jonathan, with an artifact that he thinks will lead him to Hamunaptra. They pick up Rick O’Connell as a guide, and find the city. As they search for treasure they discover the mummy, and accidentally awaken him.
Why the library is awesome!: Even though Evie makes a mess, most of us book lovers wouldn’t mind putting the library she worked at back together as it would allow us to check out all those books. Plus it holds a map to a lost city that holds the Book of Life and the Book of the Dead.
In this Indiana Jones adventure, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is on the search for his dad (Sean Connery) and the Holy Grail. His father had been searching for the artifact and disappeared, causing Indy to pick up the trail. He picks up where his dad left off in Venice with Dr. Elsa Schneider, discovering a clue to the Grail. He continues from there to save his dad on the Austria-Hungary border, and discovers a betrayal stemming all the way from the Nazis
Why the library is awesome!: You have a library that has spiral staircases, stain glass windows, and secret treasure underneath. How cool is that? It does rest over the graves of dead bodies…BUT you hold a key to finding the Holy Grail! That’s a great tradeoff.
Derek and Odette were arranged to be married when they were babies. Every summer Odette and her father would visit Derek and his mother in order to get the two to become friends and hopefully, fall in love. The two dislike each other as they don’t like playing with each other. They reach the marriageable age, but Derek messes up with Odette as he tells her that beauty is the only thing that matters. As he runs after them to make up for his stupidity, Odette is captured by an evil wizard and her father killed. The wizard wants Odette to marry him so he can have her kingdom, but Odette says she will never marry the wizard and is turned into a swan, only to become human when the moon touches the pond. Derek searches for Odette and trains himself to be able to handle it. When Derek discovers Odette, the two have to find a way to save her and change her to human.
Why the library is awesome!: So we only see this library for one scene in the film and it rivals that of Beauty and the Beast. Multiple levels, spiral staircases, and incredibly tall ladders to reach everything.
Harry Potter discovers that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts School, learning magic spells, potions, and having to fight all kinds of creatures.
Why the library is awesome!: Think of all the magical knowledge within in this place? How awesome would it be to roam these stacks and unlock that. Really explains why Hermione likes to spend so much time there.
Buffy is a teenage girl that discovers she is a slayer. She’s equipped with certain abilities that allow her to take down all kinds of monsters-demons, vampires, etc.
Why the library is awesome!: You have a library that holds tons of books for school along with almost anything on the supernatural. Not to mention it doubles as a training area that holds all kinds of weapons. What else do you need?
The Sandman Chronicles follows the story of the sandman, or Dream. He was captured and imprisoned, but manages to escape after years, and then has to right his dominion and the rest of the world. These series combines Christianity, mythology, Shakespeare, and more.
Why the library is awesome!: The library in Dreaming holds every book ever dreamt of, even those that were never written. How awesome would it be to roam those stacks?
Belle loves to read and finds it hard to relate to anyone in her town. Her father goes out of town on business and gets lost, staying over at a castle he finds. He upsets the owner and is kept prisoner, that is until Belle offers herself in her father’s place.
Why the library is awesome!: Do I really need to explain how awesome this library is? I’m sure every book lover has fallen in love with it. Multiple levels, spiral staircases, and comfy chairs in front of the fireplace-it’s a dream come true.
Mr. Talbot is a werewolf! And I’m not going to rest until I prove it.
I love this film! It’s one of my favorite Halloween specials. I used to watch this every year as they would air it on Cartoon Network as part of their Saturday Night Creature Double Features, pairing it up with Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein.
So Alvin is a huge Monster movie fan (just like me :D).
The film starts off with Alvin having horrible nightmares of meeting the Wolfman.
And wakes up screaming!
Simon and Dave think that Alvin is watching far too many horror films. Hey he is just doing his part in protecting America.
Alvin doesn’t like his new neighbor, Lawrence Talbot and thinks he is a werewolf!
And you guys didn’t miss that. It is the same name from the original Wolf Manfilm.
At school, Theodore isn’t having the best time. A kid Nathan is bullying him. Alvin sticks up for Theodore, but he can’t be with him all the time. The principal calls Dave in talk about this, but neither has the best plan of attack as Theodore won’t report it.
There is a problem with Alvin though. They are worried that he is a little too obsessed with monsters. He is the lead in the play version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Dave tells Alvin that if he catches him “monster hunting” around his neighbor, he is going to kiss his part good-bye.
Good-bye
Alvin doesn’t stop and loses his part, although he tries to weasel his way out.
The principal decides to give the lead to Theodore in hopes that it will help boost his self-esteem.
Losing the part doesn’t stop Alvin as he and Simon still search to discover if there are werewolves. And if their neighbor is one.
Theodore is trying to become a Mr. Hyde that everyone desires, but isn’t doing the best job. He’s just too sweet to play someone so evil. Eleanor offers to help him out, which is a dream come true for Theodore as he is majorly crushing on her.
That night Theordore walks home and he gets bit by a dog.
The next day Theodore is acting strangely…
He is more assertive. He gives Eleanor a token of his love. He stands up to Nathan. He even is a perfect Mr. Hyde. But it doesn’t stop there, Theodore ends up becoming meaner and meaner. The Theodore we all knew and loved has almost completely disappeared.
In fact he changes so much that he becomes a werewolf.
“[Theodore has turned into a werewolf but is acting playful]
Simon: He’s like a-a-a puppy.
Alvin: A werewolf puppy.”
They try to figure out what to do to change him back, but keep coming up with nil. They then decide to contact a psychic gypsy woman for help.
She tells them that Theodore has been changing rapidly and is close to becoming a full on werewolf…FOREVER!!! The only way to stop the full on transformation is to knock him around with a silver cane while he is still in the “puppy stage”.
Alvin breaks into Mr. Talbot’s house to steal his cane to use on Theodore. However, he accidentally bangs into Dave, who takes it away to return it. As Dave goes to returns the cane it becomes night. And not just night, but a night with a full moon. This causes Mr. Talbot to transform.
Dave runs away and tries to get to the school to warn and protect the kids, but accidentally knocks himself out in the process.
At the school Theodore transforms into a werewolf and starts attacking Eleanor, but sees the necklace that he gave her and remembers his feelings. He flees into the forest and Eleanor follows. So does Mr. Talbot.
Theodore attacks Mr. Talbot to protect Eleanor and the two get involved in a werewolf battle. The two biting each actually cures them both and turns them into humans. The crowds believe to be part of the play and applaud. And it’s a wrap! Mr. Talbot becomes the next principal.
It’s a great film for kids and adults. Not only is it a tasteful remake, but it is also is a hilarious cartoon.
Like a mentioned in the Friday the 13th post, I had wanted to watch the Big 3; Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Three classic horror films that changed the whole genre, generating countless sequels. While Friday the 13th and Halloween were actually good, Nightmare on Elm Street sucked. It was so, so, so, so bad. I was so disappointed in Wes Craven the Scream King, I thought it had so much potential to be better.
Shame on you Wes Craven
The beginning was awful as they tried to mimic Psycho, having the first character we are introduced to die off, but it was just done poorly. We never really had a sense of her character, so we never connected to Tina like we did to Janet Leigh’s character Marion.
The main lead character Nancy was just annoying. To be honest, I didn’t care whether she lived or not. I just wanted her off the screen.
Freddy Kreuger was gross looking but not that scary.
But he does look and act like a child pedophile. It fits him perfectly. It’s really funny, but Freddy’s name was inspired by a bully who used to pick on Wes Craven all the time. I guess Wes got the final punch in that as he is now associated with a psycho-killer and pedophile.
The only really thing that is really good about this film is Johnny Depp.
This was the first acting job he had and the only reason he got it was because the producer’s daughter thought he was hot. Thank you for that, as this movie would have completely sucked without him.
When you watch the trailer it actually looks like it will be creepy, plus they have the freaky song.
The only creepy part is when Freddy comes through the phone and french kisses her. It was so gross, my friends and I all started screaming at the top of our lungs!
I’m your boyfriend now Nancy!
The end was really dumb too. Wes Craven’s original ending sounded so creepy and freaky; but he changed it for the dumbest thing ever.
I heard the newest film was pretty creepy and in that one Freddy isn’t a pedophile they kill, but he is an innocent man and that is why he is back to get revenge. I might check that one and see if it truly is better.
That’s our post for today! More to come! 2 Days ‘Till Halloween!
Here’s a cover page/poster for my facebook page as part of my countdown to Halloween
As a kid I remember that this movie used to scare the bejeezus out of me. The headless horseman was uber creepy.
Ghosts are bad, but the one that’s cursed, Is the Headless Horseman; he’s the worst!
But the film is amazing!
One reason why it was so fantastic was that they had the very handsome, and very charming Bing Crosby be the narrator and singer.
I love this man!
He doesn’t even have to show his face, just listening to his voice is enough for me.
With this film, Disney actually manages to do an extremely good job at creating a fun, but still creepy children’s film. They also managed to keep it very similar to the short story, in fact taking pieces from the actual text and placing it in the film.
🚨FYI Spoiler Alert🚨
So the cartoon starts out with the classic Disney opening:
All fairy tales or films based on short stories and novels used to open with the pages of a book. I miss that opening and wish they portrayed it in more films. I know they brought it back for Enchanted, but I still wish there was more of it.
The first person we are introduced to is Brom Bones
I never liked Brom. He always seemed like a jerk to me. He was big and brawny, “handsome” to some; but a mean bully. He reminds me of a lesser cool Gaston. (I love Gaston, even though he is a jerk. His song is awesome)
Anyways, Brom is shocked at the appereance of a new man in town. In fact this stranger suprises everyone. It’s Ichabod, Ichabod Crane, the school teacher.
“Debonair and devil-may-care It’s the new schoolmaster What’s his name Ichabod! Ichabod Crane!”
He’s tall, rail thin, and has one heck of a schnozza; but I always liked him better as he was well-read and not a loser like Brom.
Icabod also loves to eat. He goes to his student’s homes to partake in their food, making it a complete part of his lifestyle.
Even though Ichabod isn’t really a looker he still has all the girls in town’s hearts a flutter.
With a voice like Bing Crosby’s who could blame them?
This of course upsets Brom, who tries his best to prank Ichabod and make him seem dumb.
Next to enter the scene is the lovely Katrina Van Tassel. Not only is she the prettiest in the town, but her father is the richest man.
“Narrator: Oh, Katrina, my love. Who can resist your grace, your charm? And who can resist your father’s farm? Boy, what a set-up! There’s gold in them acres…Dear Katrina, my love, my treasure. Treasure? Ah, that barn’s a gold mine. How I’d love to hit the jackpot. Sweet Katrina, Papa’s only child. Papa? Well, the old goat can’t take it with him, and when he cuts out, that’s where I cut in.”
Every guy in town wants to get with Katrina, Ichabod included. The only problem is that Brom is interested in Katrina, in fact he is planning on marrying her. Katrina however is enjoying the attention of Ichabod. She likes the fact that he is so different from anyone she’s ever met.
Ichabod is also able to to best Brom in every way, by using his brain over brawn.
However, Ichabod is also a very superstitous person. We saw in his song how he doesn’t like black cats, walking under ladders, salt over the shoulder, etc.
Brom catches on to this and tells a horrific story about the Headless Horseman.
“Brom Bones: [singing] When the ghosts have a midnight jamboree, they break it up with fiendish glee. Ghosts are bad, but the one that’s cursed, is the Headless Horseman; he’s the worst! Chorus: [singing] That’s right, he’s a fright on Halloween night! Brom Bones: When he goes a-jogging across the land, holding his noggin in his hand, demons take one look and groan, and they hit the road for parts unknown!…I’m telling you, brother, it’s a frightful sight for what goes on Halloween night.”
Its midnight and Halloween, and after hearing the story, Ichabod is doubly freaked out on his walk home.
Of course on his way home he runs into THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN!
“Next morning, Ichabod’s hat was found, and close beside it, a shattered pumpkin, but there was no trace of the schoolmaster. It was shortly thereafter that Brom Bones led the fair Katrina to the altar. Now, rumors persisted that Ichabod was still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county. But of course, the settlers refused to believe such nonsense, for they knew the schoolmaster had been spirited away by the Headless Horseman.”
I always thought that the horseman was Brom and not a ghost, but I like how they end it so that you can draw your own conculsion as to what has really happened.
Hope you enjoyed this hair-raising tale. More to come!
Here is a cover page I made for my facebook for my Halloween countdown
janeaustenrunsmylife 