31 Days of Halloween - Day 31: Night of the Living Dead (1990)

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 31: Night of The Living Dead (1990) (Movie #340)

I always loved this remake. It does the things I want to see in a remake. It sticks to the original as closely as possible but still does it's own unique twists on things. The plot is simple enough. The dead raise from their graves and a group of strangers find themselves hiding out in a house together trying to figure out what's going on and how to survive.

The script follows the original pretty closely until about halfway when they make one major change that (a) improves the film and (b) makes this it's own unique version of the story. Barbara toughens up. In the previous movie Barbara (at best) was a screaming prop, in this movie she raises up to the insanity and becomes a leader.

This lone element not only changes the tone of the film but also the ending (for better or worse) to the original. The biggest issue with this remake is that is loses some of the racial commentary in the previous film. HOWEVER I also question how intentional that was originally or if people saw it and Romero just went along with it.

All in all this was a fun and quick little film to end this years 31 Days of Halloween. I lucked out. 

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 23: Friday the 13th (2009)

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 23: Friday the 13th (2009) (Movie #190)

Of all the big name slashers (Freddy, Jason, Myers, Chucky and Pinhead) I've only ever seen two of them on the big screen (Halloween H20 and this). So for that reason alone there will probably always be a special place in my heart for this remake that most people hated.

Let me start off the bat by saying I by no means think this is a great or even a good movie, but I do defend it. The reason is that it's not a terrible remake. In fact to compare it to last week's Nightmare on Elm Street this film is at least enjoyable.

The thing that helps this movie is that while it's a retelling/revamp/reboot/whatever you call it the film works as a sequel. They rush through the first film in the first 30 seconds (the same way basically every F13 sequel before it has) and the only elements ripped from previous films are the burlap sack and hockey mask. Unlike some other sequels that try to recreate moments from the original series this film at least treats itself like it's own movie with it's own unique version of Jason.

This is usually referred to as Jason and the Pot Farm due to the plot lines of "kids trying to find an infamous strain of weed" and the fact that Jason is more of a "stay off my property" killer than a "driven by a blood thirst" killer.  While I won't say this isn't a fair complaint I simply can't say this is the worst Jason movie ever. This may be stupid, but it's still better than Jason Takes Manhattan.

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 19: Cat People (1982)

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 19: Cat People (Movie #77)

I'm not going to lie. The first time I rented this movie it was for one reason and one reason alone. I was a horny kid who read on a website that there was lots of nudity in it. I could care less what else happened in this film, so much so that I completely forgot what happened in this movie. Eventually I saw it on sale and bought it but I really don't remember if I ever watched it until now.

This movie doesn't feel like an 80's film but the opening credits song by David Bowie certainly dates it, which is a little disappointing because despite a couple faults (it's a little long) it's a pretty great movie.

The barebones summary is pretty simple. Paul and Irena are long lost siblings. They come from a long line of werecats. The mythos of the werecat is simple. If Paul or Irena has sex with someone they will become a black panther and unable to regain human form until they take a human life. The only way to prevent the transformation is sex with another werecat. To put it simply werecats are incestuous.

What makes this movie work so well is that it's beautifully-shot, has a creative premise and has a premise that basically sets things up where there simply can not be a good outcome. Furthermore the few moments of gore are effective and well shot. Honestly, the only complaint I have about the film is that it's a 2 hour movie that could very easily have been told in 90 minutes.

All that being said, I'm glad that if nothing else comes from this 31 Days of Halloween project, at least I rediscovered a gem that's been hidden away in my DVD shelf.

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 14: Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 14: Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 (Movie #350)

To quote Dr. Sam Beckett… "Oh Boy". This might be my least favorite movie I own, and that is saying a lot as I have over 2,000 DVDs. Also today's my birthday… talk about a shitty birthday gift.

So why do I own it? Good question. I didn't see this in theaters, I ended up seeing it was on sale at Best Buy for $4.99 one day and figured "I'll have to buy it one day" (as I'm a completest with franchises) and figured I'd never see it for cheaper. When this movie was first advertised I actually had high expectations. I liked who they picked as Freddy, I even liked the burn-victim look of him. Also the idea of questioning if he was a child molester or not was intriguing. Plus it's a Freddy movie, even at their worst they are usually pretty entertaining… I was wrong.

There are plenty of websites and articles out there that can go into more details about why this movie is unenjoyable. I'm going to just explain the things that bother me the most.

1) They call into question if he was a Child Molester. This is a great idea. The idea that he was an innocent man burnt alive for a crime he didn't do… it's such a unique twist on the character. It's not just a slasher it's a revenge story. But in the end (spoiler alert) he's just a child molester. We wasted 20-30 minutes of film researching sometime only to find out nothing new has been added to the story at all.

2) The movie recreates moments from the original film except they do it with shitty CGI when the original (and probably cheaper) practical effects were far more effective.

3) There is absolutely no fun in this movie! The reason someone likes Freddy is because in a dream world he can do and become absolutely anything. Jason and Michael will just stab you … but Freddy will become your fear or twist the things you love into your ultimate death. Do you like making puppets? He'll turn your ass into one. Are you terrified of bugs? Prepare to die as a cockroach. Unless you're attacked by this Freddy. In that case he will just slowly walk up to you with his claw glove and stab you. The End.

I actually feel bad hating this movie because the Nightmare films are so strongly a franchise that I love. But these films open so many doors of possibilities but someone (not sure who's to blame, the writer, the director or the producer) decided to ignore and walk past all those doors and go for the blandest interruption. 

But I'm a completest so I refuse to sell my copy of this. So I have no one to blame for myself that I had to sit through this again. 

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 11: Black X-Mas

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 11: Black X-Mas (Movie #51)

Let me preference this write up by saying that I think the Original Black Christmas is without argument one of the top 10 best/most important/scariest/etc Horror movies of all time. It is a perfectly executed horror-mystery with a frighteningly open ended conclusion. Black X-Mas is none of those things.

Now does that mean I disliked this movie? Not at all. I have a genuine love for this remake but its in the same way I love something like Sleepaway Camp. Every death is so over the top, there's icicles falling through faces, ice skates and candy canes used in place of knives and a plot involving making human flesh cookies. If this movie was meant to be taken seriously they fucked up big time, if this was meant to be an over-the-top fun and gory slasher than A+ to everyone involved.

The plot line to this remake is mostly faithful to the original premise. A group of sorority girls are tortured by a crazed man in their house who keeps calling them. The modernization of things (like cell phones) take away part of the terror.

One of the biggest changes is that throughout most of the original no one knew there was a killer in the house. They assumed girls had left home for the holidays early and they were getting prank phone calls. This film they're well aware there's a killer in the house, which begins raising the question of why are they looking for this guy instead of just leaving (or calling the cops on their cell phones that obviously work).

The other mistake in this film is revealing Billy and giving him a backstory. What terrified me most in the original Black Christmas is (SPOILER ALERT) never knowing who it was that was doing these things.

As far as remakes go this isn't terrible but it certainly isn't particularly good. But I remember having a blast when I saw it in theaters. The fact that I'm still able to enjoy it all these years later is a nice bonus. 

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.