Horrorfest IV: The Curse

Sorry, sorry, for the messy posting and the lack of posting. I have just been so excited for Horrorfest and trying to get everything ready in between work and all my other commitments.

So October is upon us, and while:

 

October is the penultimate.

So what do I have planned for you this year? Every year has had something extra planned, beyond just reviewing horror film. In Horrorfest (2012), I reviewed what I call the Big Three in remakes & sequels, Friday the 13th (1980), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Halloween (1978). 

I see more sequels and remakes coming in the future.

The year after that, Horrorfest II: Return of the Terror and Woe, I posted on the odd days of October. I also reviewed all three Jurassic Park films: Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Jurassic Park III. 

It was great

Then last year, Horrorfest III: The Revenge was the best Horrorfest I have ever done. I was able to get it halfway completed, before October 1st even came around. Last year I did a Werewolf theme: I started with The Wolf Man (1941) and ended with The Wolfman (2010), and making nine out of the thirty-one reviews Werewolf related.

And I also reviewed all four films in the Scream series: Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, and Scre4m.

And I reviewed three Alfred Hitchcock films: Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Under Capricorn (1949), and Dial “M” for Murder (1954). Yes, I had to make up for lost time.

I even finally got around to reviewing a Vincent Price film, Laura (1944)

So what do I have planned for this year? Well you’ll just have to wait to find out.

After all:

So stay tuned for 31 days of terror, woe, mystery, murder, monsters, mad scientists, vampires, witches, robots, stalkers, serial killers, and much, much more!

To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong in the World: Carnival of  Souls (1962)

To start Horrorfest II, from the beginning, go to There are Many Strange Creatures in the Amazon: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

To start Horrorfest III, go to Even a Man Pure of Heart: The Wolf Man (1941)

Looking at the Past, Focusing on the Future

So another year has gone by, and full of interesting and unexpected things. I will say that to me, 2013 will always be remembered as the year of the weddings, as I had a TON of friends get married this year. It was like every other week was somebody’s wedding.

Anyways, so this is a time to reflect what the past year held for us, the big posts, the planned posts, and what you all seemed to like the most. 😀

1) The Views

According to WordPress I had 9,542 views this year. That’s 7542 more than last year. I would like to thank all of you for being a part of this and giving me your time and attention.

2) #1 Post

Surprisingly, the top post of the year was my Happy Anniversary post in which I celebrated six months of blogging. I have to say I never saw that one coming. Runner ups were Snakes on a Post: Chinese New Year, Fulfilling the List: A Walk to Remember, Grimwood Ghouls’ Gym Teacher: Scooby–Doo and the Ghoul School, A Monster Race: Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant  Werewolf, and Save the Last Dance for Me: Dirty Dancing. 

3) The Followers

I now have 42 followers, that is 28 more than last January. Thank you all who follow and make my blog a part of your life. You are all awesome! 😀

Now for the success and failures of the year.

4) My Favorite Movie Lines Lists

This all started when I did a post on one of the best movie lines ever. I then decided to do my own countdowns and post them once a month. I only did two; My Favorite Movie Lines and It’s BACK!: The Sequel. I planned up to 10 lists but never finished looking for videos to include, so they are just backlogged waiting to be published. I will have to look through them and post them this year.

5) Musical Musings

I also started my musical posts, writing about some of my favorite songs. This year I covered Nothing But a Good Time, Eye of the Tiger, In Rhapsody Over Clint Eastwood,  Jump (For My Love), I’ll Be Alright Without You, and The End which reviewed a bunch of different songs. Look for more of these as I already have a few ideas for more.

6) Romance is in the Air

Fourteen posts about some of my favorite romantic moments in film in honor of Valentines’ Day. I covered Say Anything, He’s Just NOT That Into You, A Walk to Remember, An Officer and a Gentleman, The Wedding Singer, Shrek 2, Enchanted, Runaway Bride, 10 Things I Hate About You, An Affair to Remember, Music and Lyrics, It’s a Wonderful Life. Dirty Dancing, and Northanger Abbey.

7) One Day Holiday Posts

 Instead of doing a post everyday like with Romance is in the Air or Horrorfest, I did a couple of holiday posts in which I reviewed the films or books that applied in one post on one day. This is can be easier and fit for the holidays chosen; Snakes on a Post: Chinese New Year, Pot O’ Gold: Saint Patrick’s Day, and the 25 Films of Christmas. 

8) Painted Portrayals

For Easter I did something a little different from my other holiday posts. I discussed art that featured Christ, discussing the history and advancements of the pieces.  These posts were The Last Supper, The Betrayal of Christ, and Good Friday. I mean I have to use my Art History skills for something.

9) Pride and Prejudice Summer

So this was a failure. I had planned to spend a majority of my summer posting about Pride and Prejudice as it had just turned 200, but unfortunately my plans went awry. However, I did get a few done and I am going to complete this quest this year, so I can move on to another book. The posts that I completed as part of this goal are the following: Happy Birthday Pride & Prejudice, It is a Truth Universally Acknowledged, The 12 Men of Christmas, Parental Favoritism, and Definitely Not Mr. Darcy.

10) Horrorfest II

Now Horrorfest II wasn’t a complete failure, but it didn’t turn out how I originally planned. I wanted to do 31 days, but it was far too much work and only did 16. I didn’t get everything I wished to accomplish, but I think it turned out well. I covered the films; The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Warm Bodies, The Mummy (1932), The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Crucible, Ringu, The Beast of Yucca Flats, Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Jurassic Park III, and Children of the Corn. I also did the episodes “A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It” from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, “Night of the Day of the Dead” from Lizzie McGuire, and “Midnight Madness” from Are You Afraid of the Dark. I also discussed an artist who mixed horror films with Disney, Disnified Horror.

Of course there are plenty of other things that went on this year, but this finishes our review of the year.

On ending note I found this on Pinterest in the spring:

and wanted to do it, but I thought it would be better if I waited for the new year to partake in this. I think that it is a fun idea and I encourage everyone of you to do it as well.

So Happy New Year, I hope it is the better than last year! And I can’t wait to see what posts come up this year. 😀

Just Follow the Screams: The Lost World (1997)

Just follow the screams

So The Lost World: Jurassic Park II is the sequel to the first film and based on the the written sequel. Now many out there say that this movie sucks and is the worse out of the three films but I have to say it isn’t that bad. It is pretty good and some of the things wrong with it are not solely the writer’s and director’s fault. The book wasn’t nearly as good as the original so of course the film was only ok as well. However, even though it will never be as amazing as it’s older brother Jurassic Park, it still has some great things in it.

So the plot of this film is that Ian Malcolm has told everyone all about Jurassic Park (even though he signed a contract saying he wouldn’t) and has therefore been thrown through the InGen shredder, every bit of his respectability and credibility has been destroyed. He is approached by Hammond who has turned over a new leaf and wants him to help the dinosaurs. Apparently some evolved from the lysine dependency and are running loose on the “real island”. The island that Dr. Grant, Malcolm, and team went on was only the decorated park, not the real place where they created the dinosaurs. Hammond wants to turn this second island into a wildlife preserve, but his evil nephew has taken control of the company and wants to ship the dinosaurs over to create a park in San Diego. To make matters worse Malcolm’s girlfriend Sarah is already over on the island, and when Malcolm goes his daughter Kelly stows away with him. As you can imagine there are some crazy scenes on the island and in CA when the dinos run amuck.

What’s also interesting about this film is that there were quite a few  pieces taken friom the first novel and placed in here, such as the procompsognathus that attack the young girl; one guy being killed by Procompsognathids (Hammond in the novel). Also in the novel, the opposing group on the island is not led by Peter Ludlow, the evil nephew, but by Lewis Dodgson, head of the rival company BioSyn, who had hired Dennis Nedry in the previous film/book. Dodgson hides from the T-Rex under a Jeep with Sarah Harding, who kicks him out to lead the T-Rex away. The T-Rex takes him home to its nest to feed to its young. This is closely paralleled by the fate of Ludlow in the film.

1) Jeff Goldblum

First of all Jeff Goldblum! Jeff Goldblum is in this film, already that makes it pretty amazing. I mean it would have been even more amazing if Sam Neil was in it too, but hey, Jeff Goldblum is really amazing,

2) Free the Dinos!

John Hammond’s nephew, the evil Peter, is trying to capture and cage the dinos and send them over to CA. The group goes over and frees all the dinosaurs. I love this scene because it makes me thnk of one of my fav parts of E.T.

3) The Car Goes Over the Cliff!

In Jurassic Park, we have the scene where the T-Rex knocks the car over the edge of the wall. In this one we have a siimilar scene where a very angry T-Rex almost knocks the RV over the edge of a cliff.

4) The School Cut You From the Team?

So Malcolm, Sarah, and Kelly are being chased by velociraptors in a very intense scene. It is really good, almost as good as in the orginal. Then Kelly, who was cut from her school’s gymnastic team, does this huge number and takes a raptor out, impaling him. Pretty cool!

5) T-Rex in San Diego

Okay, now this has to be one of the best parts of the film as the T-Rex is running amuck in CA, like a modern day, American version of Godzilla.

I love this scene when the little boy discovers a dino in his backyard. 😀

Utter destruction

Pretty sweet! Not as cool as the first but pretty great! 😀

Here’s a poster/cover page I made this year for my facebook Halloween countdown.

In this film