Post-Weekend Open Thread (11/01/10)

Updated on November 1, 2010 By Ken Begg 18 Comments

(MOST WANTED: DETAILS ON SANDY PETERSEN’S HALLOWEEN BASH.)

I’m sure a lot of folks watched a lot of scary movies this weekend.  Here’s my action.

I belong to a ‘movie group’ at work; once a month we get together and grab dinner and then watch a movie.  Hosting (in terms of who picks the movie) rotates, but I always host our big Halloween bash.  We go to my friend Tony’s house, as he has zillions of dollars of Universal monster toys and movie posters and old timey Halloween baskets and such.  His display is always eye-popping.

One joy this year is that friend John brings his family, including his lovely wife Vicky (who I don’t see nearly enough), their teen son Miles who I’ve known since he was a baby, and their maybe four year old daughter Lilly.  I’ve corrupted Lilly with Godzilla videos already, and she raptly was watching a trailer compilation (the All Monsters Attack dvd).  It turns out her favorite monster is Rodan–she got VERY excited when he showed up–but my favorite moment was during the Irwin Allen Lost World trailer.  They have a clip of them walking on the inevitable narrow ledge over the lava, and Lilly suddenly shouted out in a dead serious warning, “Watch your step, Explorer!” That still makes me laugh.

John and Vicky like less than two weeks ago figured out that Lilly has outgrown her previous severe dairy allergy, and so we got to see her eat pizza for only the second time, and give her milk chocolate treats for the first time.  I hand out candy as host, and then we’ve got a tradition where everyone brings a ton of candy, often the weirdest stuff they can find, and we throw it in a heap and people claw through it.  There must have been, no lie, over fifty pounds of candy there.  Lilly had this personalized cloth bat basket I gave her, and it was so full of candy (about as big as a basketball), that she could barely lift it.  She staggered around carrying it, amusing me no end, and turned into Gollum (“NOOO!”) whenever we pretended we were going to sneak her candy.  I also got her from the dollar store a plastic skeleton and an inflatable big bat, which she liked a lot.

The latter was fitting, because my first movie was the Lilly friendly Devil Bat, with Bela Lugosi. It was a little slow, but everyone seemed pretty amused.  John and family headed home at that point, because it was 11:00 or later.  Second feature was the Sandy Petersen fave House (aka Hausu), which had literally come out three days earlier on a Criterion DVD.  The movie is so insane that I think it broke one friend’s mind, because he just kept giggling and crying, “WHAT IS GOING ON?!’  Anyway, good thing Lilly had left, because the film had a little nudity I had forgotten.

Other than that, I watched the first two discs of the fabulous Ellery Queen show from the ’70s, just out on DVD.  More on that later.  On TCM I saw Mark of the Vampire (not seen in so long it was like new) and The Devil Doll with a pre-wheelchair Lionel Barrymore, which I had never seen.  It was pretty cool. Later I saw most of the Mad Magician with Vincent Price, again which I had never seen.  It wasn’t that great, but worth ticking off the list, although I missed the end of it.  I assume Price paid for his crimes in some ironic fashion.

Uh, I think that’s it.  How about you guys?

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  • BeckoningChasm

    I was out of town and didn’t do much except fret. I did see “The Core” (with Hilary Swank) last night. It’s fun in an “Armageddon” kind of way, but I had to laugh out loud when I discovered where James Cameron had stolen “unobtainium.”

  • Toby Clark

    Halloween on Sunday night for obvious reasons, preceded by a comparatively disappointing episode of Poirot called Halloween Party. Pan’s Labyrinth and the original Manchurian Candidate on Saturday.

    Also the terrifying and heartwrenching conclusion to Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse.

    Agreed about the Core, although I should point out that the term Unobtainium has been in use since the 1950s.

  • zombiewhacker

    Finished my month long marathon of horror movies. Among the barrage of titles I either rented, saw in the theater, or watched on TCM this month:

    Dog Soldiers
    Let The Right One In
    A Tale of Two Sisters
    Young Frankenstein
    In the Mouth of Madness
    Tales From the Crypt (Amicus)
    The House That Dripped Blood
    Shaun of the Dead
    House on Haunted Hill (Rifftrax)
    [REC]
    The Curse of Frankenstein
    Horror of Dracula
    The Gorgon
    Five Million Years to Earth
    X The Unknown
    The Man With Two Brains
    Blade
    Simpsons Tree House of Horror Marathon Seasons 2-8
    Paranormal Activity
    The Haunting (original)
    Ed Wood
    Sleepy Hollow
    The Mothman Prophecies

    And that’s just off the top of my head.

    Since this is an open thread, and since Halloween season has drawn to a close, I’d like to pose a survey to our fellow Jabootubes: what’s your favorite Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing film? My first pick: Horror Express. Honorable mention: Horror of Dracula. General rule: anytrhing with Cushing or Lee and the word “horror” in the title is usually a safe bet.

  • Rock Baker

    At least Armageddon was a fun movie with a good cast. The Core was just… well,.. stupid.

    I’d been watching a Halloween flick each night throughout the week, but for the weekend it was…

    Dominique (1979) – Cliff Robertson drives his wife to commit suicide, but after the burial it becomes clear she isn’t ready to leave him. Better than average flick of this type. (And this was one I hadn’t seen before. Bonus!)

    Ernest Scared Stupid (1994?) – The closest thing my generation had to a contemporary Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was this fun horror/comedy. Long Ago, in Briarville, Missouri, the evil troll Trantor was finally captured by the settlers and imprissoned under the roots of an oak tree, the deed done by the right Reverend Finneous Worrell. Before being trapped for good, Trantor places a curse on the Worrells and claims that one of their own will free him. A century later on halloween night and your old buddy Ernest does just that, and the child-stealing Trantor is collecting enough innocent souls to raise his army of evil trolls which will conquer the earth. Only Ernest P. Worrell can destroy Trantor, or as he puts it “You’re history, Pal! You’re Elvis!”
    Many critics despise Jim Varney and his Ernest character because it doesn’t offend anyone. Okay, I don’t get that, but I know what I enjoy. Fun mix of Varney’s trademark slapstick and supernatural horror. “Eat miak and die!”

    “House on Haunted Hill” (1959) – Ultimate haunted house flick brought to us by the dandy combo of Vincent Price and William Castle. A Classic!

    Spaced Invaders (1989) – Martians cut off from their attack fleet intercept a rebroadcast of the Mercury Theater On The Air’s infamous 1938 ‘War Of The Worlds’ play, and promptly invade the small town of Big Bean on Halloween night. Laugh riot and special effects spectacular. Great stuff.
    My favorite line remains: “Let me explain the whole situation in a nutshell. There are five of us, and four BILLION of them! They have Strategic Air Commands, nuclear-powered submarines, and JOHN WAYNE!”

    Halloween who-dun-it (1967) – A Davey and Goliath half hour special, featuring the puppetoon version of Beaver Cleaver and his intelligent dog. Davey enters a costume contest and wins a dart gun that fires (apparently metal) bolts with enough force to shatter a wooden beehive and knock over a streetsign!

    Can’t really do much for halloween out here other than watch movies. I figure I’ll spend Wednesday the same way after dinner with the family.

  • Rock Baker

    I’ll have to cast my vote for Horror of Dracula. It remains one of the finest vampire movies ever filmed, and much credit goes to Cushing and Lee.

  • Man with No Face

    On Halloween: the first five Hammer Draculas with Christopher Lee (I skipped Brides). Then I got tired. Tonight: Dracula 1972 and Satanic Rites, just to finish it off.

    Watching them all in a row is an interesting experience. They’re so careful about resurrecting the Count from his previous demise each film, but not so careful about other details (Drac is reduced to ashes in London at the end of Taste the Blood, but his ashes are back in Transylvania at the opening of Scars). The same guy plays the village innkeeper in all of them, but in the first bunch he’s paranoid about even speaking the name Dracula, then suddenly in Scars he leads a mob to torch Dracula’s castle! And every single movie has to have a young guy named “Paul” in it, apparently. Still good fun, though.

  • andy80

    Anyone catch the walking dead? I thought it was excellent, wish AMC was in HD on directv though..

  • The Rev.

    “The movie is so insane that I think it broke one friend’s mind, because he just kept giggling and crying, “WHAT IS GOING ON?!’”

    That sounds about right.

    Hopefully Rebecca will come by and fill in the blanks on Sandy’s get-together; I was detained and didn’t make it out until a little after 5 pm. If anyone other than Rebecca and I came over, they left before I arrived. Two of Sandy’s sons popped up (well, one was already there when I arrived), as did a rather pretty neighbor girl. They even got a couple of trick-or-treaters. Apparently everyone else did it Saturday night, which is bullcrap because Sunday was Hallowe’en, not Saturday.

    Anyway, Sandy treated us to an eclectic mix of noshables, including corn dogs, a veggie tray, panko-breaded shrimp with plum dipping sauce, crackers and a tasty Spanish sheep milk cheese whose name I cannot remember, and jalapeno and garlic-stuffed olives. Various soft drinks were provided to drink. Sandy’s place is cozy and nice. I wish the lady of the house could have come, because she’d never again complain about any of my various collections after seeing Sandy’s breathtaking array of, well, just about everything.

  • The Rev.

    I came in on the last 20 or so minutes of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, which oddly enough I’d just watched on TCM earlier that weekend. Good fun!

    Sandy then gave us a real treat by popping in a screener for The Whisperer in Darkness, the current Lovecraft project from the guys who made that short “Call of Cthulhu” film a while back. Sandy informed us that the music was not the final soundtrack, and they’d be touching up the visuals and such, but this is pretty much the movie. How did Sandy have this? That’s his secret to tell. I will say that, when this is released, you should all check it out. I plan on buying it as soon as I can. It is easily a contender for best Lovecraft adaptation, and in terms of quality combined with faithfulness to the material, probably IS the best. The acting, the cinematography, the locations, the storyline, the sound…all great. The effects range from good to a frankly astonishing prop that is literally startling in terms of the care and time it must’ve taken to produce it. It holds true to that Lovecraftian feel, even in the parts they created themselves. I’m still a bit giddy after seeing it.

    Rebecca headed home after that, but I stuck around for Goblin Hunter Hiruko, which fulfilled my request for “a crazy Asian movie.” Not quite as batshit as Seventh Curse or Eternal Evil of Asia and a far cry from Hausu, but it fit the bill quite nicely with firehose blood gushers, kick-ass monster props, almost no let-up in energy and weirdness, and one of my new favorite movie critters. Sandy had it on DVD-R, so I’m guessing its availability is limited for us gaijin, but try to see it if you like this sort of thing.

    Good times, and another hearty round of thanks to our gracious and amusing host.

    P.S. Sandy, say hi to Naomi for me. (Naomi is his wonderfully sweet old dog, who kept me company during a good chuck of TWiD.)

  • fish eye no miko

    The Rev. said: Sandy then gave us a real treat by popping in a screener for The Whisperer in Darkness, the current Lovecraft project from the guys who made that short “Call of Cthulhu” film a while back.

    I am sooooo jealous right now…

  • TongoRad

    Cushing is just so F’in’ suave in Horror of Dracula that I have to go with that one too.

    My son and I loved the Call of Cthulu flick, so we’ll definitely make sure to check out the new project when we can.

    This weekend I picked up Dragonslayer from the library (I put it on reserve earlier in the week. While I was there I noticed District 9 on the shelf, so that was our Friday movie. I was expecting something entertaining, but wound up being kind of blown away- what an excellent surprise. Dragonslayer was on tap for Saturday night- #1 son was duly impressed, and I think overall the movie really held up well.

    After he went to bed I dug into the collection and got into Bloody Pit of Horror. Now that’s som late night viewing!

    Sunday was dedicated to #2 son, going to parties and trick or treating, so no TV then. Excellent weekend overall, though.

  • Before the Rev showed up, we watched Scars of Dracula and then Gamera vs. Guiron.

    See? If you’d attended Sandy’s micro-bash you would have gotten to see THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS and heard Henry Akeley’s “laugh”. Plus eaten Manchego sheep’s milk cheese which is what the Rev can’t remember.

  • Petoht

    Can’t wait for Whisperer to come out. I should pop in my copy of Call of Cthulhu again some time. I should also rent Dog Soldiers again. That was a fun werewolf flick.

    This weekend I saw Wasabi which was fun, even though I was transfixed by the default settings on the disc of the subtitles and the dub track both being on. I couldn’t stop watching both and howling at some of the disagreements between the two. And not just idioms… one of them kept mistranslating numbers.

    I also saw The Lost Skeleton Returns Again, which was great fun. I’m not sure which I like more, the original or this. I think I like the original better because the best parts of Returns were some of the callbacks. Especially the “twins”.

    Oddly enough, it was my wife that saw the true horror movie this weekend. At her insistence, I had NetFlix send me The Ugly Truth…

  • My wife, Alma, and I kept it light with a “Night Gallery” mini-marathon (she got me the collection on DVD for my birthday). Favorite episodes watched:
    “A Question of Fear” (starring Leslie Nielsen, of all people) and “Brenda” (very poignant)

  • Chad R.

    I concur with everyone else about Whisperer in Darkness. CANNOT WAIT.

    I had my annual Halloween party on Sunday during which we watched The Thing With Two Heads and Sugar Hill. Oh yeah. Then we had our traditional role-playing game session. This year it was The Haunting of Hell House on Haunted Hill, a mashup of classic haunted house movies. It was fun to watch Watson Pritchard and Benjamin Fischer one up each other with gruesome stories about the house.

  • The Rev.

    I’m glad to see the anticipation for TWiD. This is one of the few times where my excitement over a movie doesn’t feel like overselling; it really is a great piece of filmmaking on all fronts. I want this to succeed as much as possible for a movie that will likely by DTD (although Sandy said it might get a limited run at certain theaters, like our local Angelika, who gave me The Host and the restored Gojira, bless them). Not just because I want to see more from them, but because it damn well deserves it on its own merits.

  • Rock Baker

    I’m sure no one cares about this, but I have this bug about spreading incorrect information and I need to correct something I wrote. I went back and checked and the release year for Ernest Scared Stupid was actually 1991. I got to reflecting on it and 94 really seemed too recent in my memory. There. Problem fixed. You can get back to business now. Sorry.

  • Rebochan

    Because I must be perennially late, I can try to provide a little more detail. I can say that Sandy, after recovering from shock that I had never seen a Christopher Lee Dracula film, took care of this at once.

    Scars of Dracula is an interesting little film. Despite much less Dracula, he commits his greatest act of badassery in the initial ten minutes without even waking up. He also keeps a Patrick Troughton (yes, *that* Patrick Troughton) around as a servant to beat the crap out of and dispose of his bodies for him. I think the character has an actual name, but I’ll just remember the fellow as Patrick. The main characters were quite bland – I’ve been informed this is typical. The most interesting of them gets killed off pretty early on. The fake plastic bat was pretty cheap, which was a shame since the rest of the film was pretty good about hiding its budget. I was a bit surprised when after they’d carefully ensured that we didn’t actually see the bat in the act of killing, they later did a sequence of someone clearly fighting with a puppet anyway. The ending’s also quite a cop out, though I like to think that God decided to throw the heroes a bone since they were just so ineffectual. But I definitely got a good taste of why everyone raves so much about these films. Christopher Lee can kick Edward Cullen’s butt without even getting out of bed, as far as I’m concerned.

    After that, Sandy treated me to a Japanese release of Gamera vs. Guiron, aka “The one where he fights a monster shaped like a knife that snorts shuriken.” I guess if you’ve already accepted “The hero is a jet-propelled giant turtle”, though, is it such a stretch? I hadn’t seen a non-MST’d version of the Gamera films, and I have to agree with Sandy – the theme song is no less nonsensical in Japanese (“mighty jet propulsion!”) than the “turtle meat” parodies of MST3K fame. It’s about what you’d expect – it’s Gamera fighting a knife monster, with an earlier cameo from Gyaos getting chopped up by Guiron. We get a pair of Kennys (one Japanse, one American) that meet a pair of advanced cannibalistic space women that have created a society without “war or traffic accidents(?)”. We were routing for the space cannibals – I am PERFECTLY willing to sacrifice two annoying children for a world free of war and traffic accidents. Sadly, the most we got was the aliens shaving one of their heads. Probably the highlight of the fights was Gamera’s Gymkata-esque flip on a high bar to deliver ownage to Guiron near the end of the film. However, it is still Gamera and these extremely cheesy films are always right up my alley.

    The final one was, as mentioned, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, as I’d also never seen any of the Hammer Frankenstein films. It got started off with a bang, as it were, as Frankenstein lopped a guy’s head off in the first minute, and just got crazier from there. Frankenstein basically blackmails the young couple running the boarding house he’s staying in and ruins their lives. There’s also a rather wince-inducing rape scene in there, which Sandy informed me Peter Cushing did under protest. Actually, the entire arc with the breakdown of Anna is quite scary in its own right – her husband kind of has a lot of what happens coming to him, but she’s pretty much an innocent. The whole film ends with the monster (not much of a monster really – just a guy whose brain is in a new body) burning down his wife’s house. Kind of harsh. But the monster sure had fun screwing with Frankenstein before he finished the jerk off.

    And everything past that was filled in by the Rev. Akeley’s little laugh haunts my nightmares to this day and I have Sandy to thank for it. Unfortunately, I had to head out early since I had an hour’s drive and class in the morning. But I really appreciated having something fun to do on Halloween.