Sunday, October 25, 2009

Halloween 2009

Scream, if you want to.


Sure, if a guy is going to make a Halloween grocery list, he may want to publish it far enough ahead of the night in question — that's how recommendations work. That being said, I hardly think those who would concern themselves with a list of scarelicious movies (honestly, spooktacular is a bit overused) will be well versed as to not need another, let alone handcuff themselves by leaving scant days to track one down.

Be that as it may, and to put the brakes on this donnish de trop, here are a few titles I've enjoyed that aren't high on the depth chart but might just make your blood run cold, send a shiver down your spine, or maybe even spark a laugh:

Obvious Pick: Pumpkinhead
80's Slasher Pick: April Fool's Day
Wacky but Solid Mock Slasher Pick: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Subbed & Sinister Pick: Les Diaboliques
90's Slasher Pick: Scream
Tour de Force Period Piece Pick: Le Pacte des loups
Aught Slasher Pick: Friday the 13th
Good Clean Fun Pick: Trick 'r Treat
King of the Hill Pick: [REC]

Enjoy!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Late night — Double feature — Picture show:



Well, I had an entire review of Something Weird Video's crazy double feature release "Common Law Wife/Jennie, Wife/Child" but I left the room to whip up some food only to return to see my program crashed; all was lost.

In any event, "Jennie, Wife/Child" plays like it was pulled from a dusty stack of rejected 1950s social studies reel-to-reels made to discourage growing up too fast (read: gold-digging — in this case), as it portrays an ever so cute but stir crazy twenty-year-old Jennie (Beverly Lunsford) married to a middle–aged farm owner (Jack Lester). But the studly hired hand, Mario (Jim Reader), catches the lovely Jennie's eye, which leads to all sorts of hilarious tension. What's more, little Jennie becomes a tad possessive of Mario after he spends a drunken night in town with the "town tramp" Lulu (Virginia Wood), a bubbly blonde whose morals are a smidgen loose — to be kind. But the grizzled and somewhat bitter Mr. Peckingpaw is growing weary of Jennie's exploits. He has a plan. For an underground film made on a dirt cheap budget, there's a glimpse of some real substance to these characters. Intended or not.

The second movie, "Common Law Wife", isn't so educational-based in feel. It goes far beyond with a truer thriller plot. An old oil-rich skinflint named Shugfoot (George Edgely) suddenly realizes his live-in girlfriend, Linda, is far too old for him. Old Shug hatches a plan to bring his "blood niece" Jonelle (whom he calls Baby Doll) into town as a live-in caregiver — his ultimate goal of making her his lover. Yes, you read that correctly. Things become (even more) complicated for ol' Shug when Linda is informed there is something known as Common–law marriage; she now assumes the upper hand, as it were. But what's that saying about assuming stuff? Baby Doll is now back in town and she has an agenda all her own. This feature has a surprisingly solid ending.

Now — the disc has a hidden third feature entitled "Moonshine Love" (at one time known as Sod Sisters), which employs the thinnest and inanest of plots wrapped around two "sisters" who come to harbor an amnesiac, who unknown to them, was involved in a recent robbery. The two live in a mountain cabin with an older fellow who could be any or all degrees of relation — the three come to relish their visitor's presence until his accomplices finally track him to the area. This film features copious full-on nudity. To wit, a several minute scene where one sister gratifies herself in various ways with a large, irregular yam/potato! Believe it or not! I hope I didn't spoil it for anyone...

Common Law Wife is the only one really worth a watch if you're afforded the opportunity, but don't let the fact a couple of scenes in Jennie, Wife/Child (which supposedly shed more light on the "Baby Doll" character) didn't make the leap from video to disc — since it is a double feature DVD it's worth checking out.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Cookers (2001)

Hipster by half.


So I saw the 2001 nil-budget horror/thriller "Cookers" this past Tuesday on recommendation from Teresa Nieman over at Cult Iconic, and since I pretty much agree with what she has written, here's what she wrote.

I think the opening credit sequence perfectly sets a tempo for the movie; the distorted music gets our heads in the right place, director Dan Mintz's camerawork moves in measured fits around the vehicle and scenery, and the fish-eyed lens (somewhat comical in and of itself if you ask me) further distorts our introduction. The "Merle" character (coolly played by Patrick McGaw) steals the show. He's both barometer to the cloistered couple and rural raconteur whose half-ass ghost story essentially kicks-starts the movie in earnest.

Whether or not Cookers languishes in places or cops out of its horror theme is debatable, I guess, but it certainly is a gem in the genre and a must to rent, even against most of this year's major horror releases.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Paranormal Activity (2009, by way of 2007)



“I figured, well, sleeping at home is something you can’t really avoid. So if I can make people scared of being at home, Paranormal Activity might do something.”
– writer/director Oren Peli


Roughly a week after Paranormal Activity lit up screens in a handful of "college" markets, writer and director Oren Peli's preternatural horror film hit the road for its next leg of midnight showings. In my market, Minneapolis/St. Paul, you got two shots and out. Quite needless to mention, both screenings were sold out well in advance, as I discovered after a ticket snafu before Friday's show. Luckily, I had tickets good for Saturday to fall back on! This is one you want to see, and see early on in its run, preferably during its witching hour tour, as auds will be wholly receptive to both the film's brand of measured humor and its punishing dose of frustration and distress.

As far as the film itself, and without going into great detail, twenty-something (maybe early thirty-something) couple Micah & Katie are in the midst of investigating some bothersome happenings that have been intruding on their sleep, and for Katie, her mental well-being. Micah employs a phalanx of technology, consisting mainly of a stationary camera positioned in their bedroom to "catch" whatever it may be that's causing the rift. All of this is rather benign for the present. For Micah, it's a chance to flex his technological muscle, and for Katie it's hopefully a means to an end, and, well, let's face it, it's charmingly intrusive. Still, when sound sleep continues to evade them, she starts tolerating both the camera and Micah's increasingly flippant attitude toward their situation less and less. They soon resign to collecting their circumstances into a pitch of sorts should they employ outside help, namely a psychic, but even this becomes exhausting due to Micah's bravado and his dismissive-cum-menacing curiosity in the events. Which is what the couple does not need at the moment. And yes, it will turn very bad. But terrific for us.