Can you believe that October is already going to be upon us? And for those of you who have been following me, you know what that means Horrorfest III: The Revenge of the Horror Film
The month of October I will be bringing you a post everyday on a horror film or TV episode, old & new. So sit back and enjoy 31 days of horror, terror, and woe. 🙂
Horrorfest has ended. 😦 I am actually very sad that it is over. I thought I’d be a bit relieved to have the pressure of posting everyday be over, but I actually kind of miss it. I toyed with the idea of doing a Thank-o-Rama: the 4 Thursdays of Thanksgiving and posting a fav TV episode or movie that revolves/has Thanksgiving in it (I had to include TV Shows as I can only think of three movies with Thanksgiving; Holiday Inn, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and Miracle on 34th Street.Holiday Inn and Miracle on 34th Street don’t even really count since they are Christmas movies.) Then I thought of doing War Writings: 11 Days to Honor Armed Forces for Veteran’s Day,but I thought it would be far too soon to commit myself to another everyday project. I need to take a momentary breather.
I am considering doing something like The 12 Posts of Christmasand something like Lovetales: 14 Fun-filled Romances for Valentines Day. Also Viva Mexico: Cinco dias de los Chicanos for Cinco de Mayo. I’m still working on the actual titles for these. I thought about doing Pot o’ Gold: Seven Irish Tales for St. Patrick’s Day because I don’t think I can think of 17. The only films I could think of that I have seen that revolve around Irish people/Irish flavor are Rudy (Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish), Luck of the Irish, Gangs of New York, Far and Away, A Leprechaun’s Christmas (doesn’t really count as it is a Christmas movie), The Fighter, and Under the Waterfall. That’s exactly seven.
Doing this whole project was completely different than I expected. I planned to do posts for all the Universal Monster Movies ; like The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of FrankensteinandPhantom of the Opera; along with all their remakes, to you know compare and contrast, but I just ran out of posts to finish them all. I also really wanted to do posts on Alfred Hitchcock’s movies, like The Birds, Psycho, Rebecca, and Strangers on a Train; but also wasn’t able to get to them. I really, really, really wanted to do Vincent Price films; like House on Haunted Hill, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Pit and the Pendulem, etc.
I noticed that a lot of posts I chose to do really depended on how much time I was able to devote a day to a post; along with what I was in the mood for to write about. Sometimes I started a post, but never finished it as I wasn’t in the right mood.
I’d like to know which were your faves are so vote, vote, vote! If you are unsure which to pick then why don’t you pop over and start at the beginning. Also I’d like to know what you wish I had posted on. Just leave a comment at the bottom of the page! 😀
It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.
Let’s face it, you all knew this was coming. I mean how could I not end Horrorfest without ending on Halloween, literally.
I saw this movie during my quest to view the Big 3. I saw Nightmare on Elm Street first, which I was very disappointed in. Then I saw Friday the 13th, which wasn’t bad, but not super scary. Needless to say, when I got around to watching Halloween I thought it was going to suck. I had seen one of the many spanned sequels when I was flipping through channels, and that was absolute rot.
I LOVED Halloween though. I thought it was pretty creepy. I mean some parts are a little dumb, like the fact that you can’t kill Michael Myers, because “can’t kill the boogeyman”, but overall it was a very well done film.
The story is of a young boy, Michael Myers, who murders his sister. I hate how they never explain why he murders her. There are “theories”, but John Carpenter really should have given us a reason why Myers became a murderer. What was his stressor? What triggered him to this kind of response? I know you all think why I should care, but it concerns me as I took this quiz, Which Horror Movie Slasher are You?, and got Michael Myers.
Anyways he is sent to a sanitorium, where he is taken care of by Dr. Samuel Loomis. On October 30, Loomis and nurse Marion Chambers are preparing to take him off to be tried at court. Myers gets away and Loomis heads to Myers’ hometown Haddonfield to track him down.
Carpenter really liked Alfred Hitchcock movies, especially the film Psycho. He pays homage to the film throughout this movie; two of them being Dr. Samuel Loomis and Marion Chambers. In Psycho, Marion Crane is played by Janet Leigh, the poor women who ends up not living through her night at the Bates Motel. The man she loves and is hoping to marry soon, is Sam Loomis, played by the Very Handsome John Gavin.
We now are transitioned to the cute ’70s suburban town of Haddonfield. There we are introduced to straight A, good girl, Laurie Strode. Laurie Strode is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and this was her first film and it really got her career going. The only reason why she got the part was because Carpenter thought it would be awesome to have Janet Leigh’s, the star of Psycho, daughter be the star of his film. Janet Leigh had been knows as the “Queen of Scream”, a title that her daughter Jamie went on to also earn.
Laurie is planning on baby-sitting that night, watching scary movies, and carving Jack-o-Lanterns. Her two friends Annie and Lynda are much more wild and eagerly hoping to have wild nights with their boyfriends. While Annie’s plans fall through and she is going to be baby-sitting a girl down the street from Laurie, neither are as serious about it as Laurie.
From Laurie, we see that she has a problem connecting to others. She is quiet and reserved. She is also very wistful that she doesn’t have a date to the dance on that Friday, the night after Halloween. Her friends eagerly make plans for Friday, plans that get changed by Myers.
Laurie spends Halloween in a fog, as she keeps seeing someone watching her, but can’t tell if it is in her head or if someone is out there. No one else manages to see him, as just like in the Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, he always slips away.
I mean I totally relate to her in this film. When you are out walking around all the time like her, a lot of weirdos come around and you never quite know whether one is a safe weirdo, or one who might possibly do something.
Loomis meets up with the local sheriff, who is also Annie’s father, and the two search for Myers. They spend most of their attention focusing on the Myers’ old house. Neither is aware that Myers has already chosen his victims and is stalking them right now.
Laurie gets to the house and is a good baby-sitter, paying attention to Tommy Doyle. He is pretty much focused on the monster movie marathon. Two of the films he watches that night are The Thing From Another World (my favorite horror movie), and Forbidden Planet (my favorite scifi film). I recognized the scenes from them right away when I was watching it, and started screaming out their names. Carpenter redid The Thing From Another World, titling it The Thing. Kurt Russell stars in it as he was a fan of the original film. I thought the remake sucked! They changed EVERYTHING. But I’ll save that for another post.
Myers’ bloodbath begins! I don’t want to ruin the film for you guys, and say too much more as I think it should be watched. It is really good and has some definitely creepy music, which Carpenter wrote himself. I’m serious that music sends chills down my spines when I hear it. It totally creeps me out.
I will say one thing. I really liked how Laurie’s character fights back. She is pretty tough, and usually women don’t have that role in a horror film. Definitely check this out!
Also Carpenter references another Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window, when the boy witnesses something, but Laurie fails to believe him.
The only thing I wish we had to make the movie better is why Michael kills and why he choose those specific people to be his victims. Alas, we may never know.
Sadly this ends my Horrorfest. There are now 31 Tales of Terror and Woe, which I suggest you read and watch.
I’m so sad that it is over, but it has been a lot of fun. I already can’t wait until next year to do it again.
Have a scaretastic, terrorific, horrifyingly amazing night. Eat candy, watch movies; just have fun. And be safe in anything you do. I just started getting readers and would hate to lose any of them. Happy Halloween! 😀
So this artist José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros did a series of disney mash-ups, my favs being the horror films. To see more go to Disnified Horror.
He’s climbin’ in your windows
Here’s a facebook cover page I made for my facebook as part of my countdown to Halloween.
janeaustenrunsmylife 