31 Movies of Halloween: House of 1,000 Corpses

This month I've been watching a different horror movie each day and blogging about it, enjoy

DAY 12: HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES

There are few fans that have people as split as House of 1,000 Corpses. The film has a fair share of die-hard fans but an equal amount of people who despise the movie. I’m in the first camp but totally understand that the second camp has nothing but valid arguments. I just don’t care, sometimes it’s nice that when you’re going... “I can’t decide between Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hills have Eyes or Friday the 13th” you have the option to watch them all at once.

As much as people shit on this movie, let’s be honest. As horror fans, we’d have probably made a similar film. It’s a tribute to the classic horror films of the 70’s and 80’s, it’s got some intense death scenes and it completely feels like a new director’s first film.

House of 1,000 corpses is a paint by numbers horror film, but Rob Zombie’s strange decisions make this worth watching. Casting (then unknown) comedians Rainn WIlson and Chris Hardwick as it’s lead victims and pitting them against exploitation horror icons Bill Mosley and Sid Haig says (to me) exactly what this movie is. It’s a tribute to the classic horror films of the 70’s but having a sense of fun mixed in.

I’ve watch this movie a ridiculous amount of times (basically because it was one of the first 3 DVDs I ever owned).

I recommend it to everyone but I know only half of them will like it.

When Matt's not blogging he's tweeting, producing his own podcast THE SAINT MORT SHOW and writing for Geekscape.net. If he had a dollar for every Corpse he'd be a thousandaire

31 Movies of Halloween: The Stuff

Halloween is my favorite holiday, in honor of that this month I'm going to watch an review a different movie each day.

DAY 11: THE STUFF

80’s horror is full of b-movie greats. The 80’s gave us such low-budget horror masterminds like Stuart Gordon, Lloyd Kaufman and Charles

Band. Right up there with the rest of the guys writing, directing and producing their own films on micro-budgets was Larry Cohen. The man

behind such films as It’s Alive and Maniac Cop, but to this day his masterpiece remains a little horror-comedy from 1985 called THE STUFF

Bubbling out of the group comes a white substance. Unsanitary or not, it tastes delicious. It gets packed and marketed immediately under the

name The Stuff. Soon all other ice cream companies are going bankrupt. They hire David Mo Rutherford to find out what’s up with the stuff

With the ad of a young boy named Jason, An advertising executive named Nicole and the infamous food mogul Chocolate Chip Charlie soon

discover the Stuff’s horrible secret.

Made around the same time as Street Trash and Body Melt this film doesn’t have the same goretastic effects and jumps, but it does have a much

more engrossing story. Regardless all three films are highly recommended.

When Matt isn't blogging he's tweeting, producing his podcast the Saint Mort Show and writing for Geekscape.net. He loves eating the stuff but

never has the money for it.

31 Movies of Halloween: Never Sleep Again

For the Next 31 Days I've been watching horror movies and reviewing in honor of my favorite holiday. Enjoy!

DAY 10: NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

Okay, so this is cheating. Instead of watching Nightmare on Elm Street (the greatest horror franchise ever) I watched the documentary Never Sleep Again. That being said, if you’re a horror fan (not even just a Freddy fan) this is a must see documentary. It’s 4 hours long, but it feels like only 2 hours and full of interesting information and great interviews.

The opening credits along depict these incredible claymation reenactments of famous scenes from the series before it dives right into the story. We learn the history of the the first film, where Wes got the idea, how special effects were done and exclusive never before seen cut footage. We learn about the stories of friendship and fun on the set of Dream Warriors and a break down of why Dream Warriors and Dream Master are both so much better than they deserve to be.

The most fascinating parts of this documentary come from the fact that it was independently made so everyone is honest. They discuss why Part 5 didn’t work and if the gay subtext in Freddy’s Revenge was intentional or not.

The most interesting part of the entire documentary was about the making of Part 6 Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare. First talking about the unproduced (but extremely interesting) Peter Jackson script and leading into why Freddy’s Dead is uneven (but still awesome). I always enjoyed Freddy’s Dead despite many referring to it as the worst film in the franchise, now I can understand why. It was put together by a collection of production experts from the John Waters camp (get it?!) and even originally called for a cameo from Divine.

If you’re reading this blog because you love horror movies, you should not just see this, but own it because beyond the 4 hour documentary there’s a second disc of even more incredible bonus features.

When Matt's not blogging he's tweeting, writing for Geekscape.net and producing his podcast The Saint Mort Show. And don't forget the being broke is the worst nightmare of all

31 Movies of Halloween: May

Over the next 31 Days I'll be watching and reviewing a horror movie. ENJOY!

DAY 9: MAY

When a movie starts with the titular character with her hand covering her bleeding eyeball, you get a general feeling that this movie isn’t going to end well.

May is a strange girl. She was born with a lazy eye which lead to her being friendless, with the exception of the doll Suzie that her mom made. She works for a vet but still lives alone. She develops an obsessive crush on Adam an auto body require shop employee who works near her job. Meanwhile May’s lesbian co-worker Polly continues to be increasingly flirtier with her at work.

Adam and May start to date, mostly to Adam’s interest in how weird she is. Eventually though, her weirdness becomes too much for Adam to handle and he leaves her. May eventually snaps. She concludes none of her friends are real friends, she doesn’t like them, only parts of them.

May uses her knowledge of doll making to create a human doll out of their body parts.

May sounds like it should be an absurd movie. In the wrong hands it could very easily have ended up in the Troma library (where I’d probably still love it) but writer/director Lucky McGee does a wonderful job with the subject matter. Furthermore Angela Bettis’ performance as May makes us sympathize with her.

Lucky packs this film with symbolism and subtext and lets the horror creep up slowly on you instead of a murder every 10 minutes. It’s a painfully underwatched and under appreciated film that should have been considered a classic by now, but still is not.

When he's not writing in his blog, he's writing for Geekscape.net and producing his podcast The Saint Mort Show. And remember, the easiest way to make friends is with money.

31 Movies of Halloween: Monster Squad

Every day this month I'm watching and reviewing some of my favorite horror movies. Enjoy!

DAY 8: MONSTER SQUAD

I don’t remember the first time that I saw Monster Squad. The reason I don’t remember it is because by the time I was 10 I probably watched this movie somewhere in the realm of 50 times. I loved this movie. It ranks as one of my top 10 movies of all time.

Monster Squad tells the tale of a group of elementary school students obsessed with horror movies. When all of Universal’s classic monsters begin to attack their town, they’re the only hope the town has.

The film is written and directed by Fred Dekker, a talented filmmaker who had a career so sure it’s a legitimately a travesty. The writing is brilliant, the dialogue top-notch, but the star of the show is Stan Winston’s creature effects.

For years I’d watch this movie and wish that they’d take Stan Winston’s desire of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and do a remake with it. The film didn’t do well in theaters but has a gigantic cult following. There’s even rumors of a remake (shiver) from Disney (groan).

Whether you’re 10 or 60, there’s so much to like about Monster Squad I recommend it for everyone

Feel free to read my writing on Geekscape.net or listen to my podcast the Saint Mort Show. And remember... I'm in the Goddamn Club aren't I? (and club dues are EXPENSIVE)

31 Movies of Halloween: Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Every day for this month I'll be watching a horror film and posting a review. Enjoy!

DAY 7: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

I discovered a love of horror movies during the summer between 5th and 6th grade. I was lucky enough to not just love Halloween but to also have been born in October. What this ended up meaning was that whenever my birthday rolled around I’d have a horror movie marathon with my friends. The first versions of these movie marathons were sleepovers. It was at one of these sleepovers that I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

At that point in my life I was all about gore. Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Toxic Avenger... those were the movies that I was interested in. Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s slow pace and lack of gore basically just meant I was bored as were everyone that attended the party.

In high school I found an old VHS copy for sale for a $1. It was the day before halloween and I decided to pick up a copy strictly to watch that year while kids were trick-r-treating. It was a slow burn that particular year, so instead of handing out candy, I was just enjoying the movie. All the things that made me dislike it those many years ago where the exact reason I loved it.

It’s atmospheric, it’s eerie and it’s brilliantly paced. Gun to my head I’d even vote it the greatest horror movie ever made. The final 20 minutes are a prime example of how editing can create tension. The film went from being long static shots to a chaotic cut every other second. When mixed with the soundtrack and the screaming you get a nightmarish quality not seen in modern horror.

If you call yourself a horror fan and you’ve never watched this low-budget masterpiece, you need to fix that.

If you just can't get enough of Saint Mort then check out his podcast The Saint Mort Show and read my writings on Geekscape.net and never forget food cost things

31 Movies of Halloween: Dolls

I'm watching 31 horror movies and posting reviews, Enjoy!

DAY 6: DOLLS

I did something differently today (as I will for every Thursday this month) today's movie will actually be appearing on Geekscape.net as part of my Guilty Pleasures series

so click here