Monster of the Day #408

Updated on January 13, 2012 By Ken Begg 26 Comments

It’s “Make Up Your Own Joke Friday.”

(And yes, I just had nothing.)

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  • Flangepart

    “Hello, Mr Airbag face!”

  • Ericb

    “I’m glad you asked that question Katie. I’m of two minds on that issue …”

  • Anonymous

    I’m not sure where Ken keeps getting photos of my old girlfriends but this is getting embarrassing…

  • David Fullam

    Just rewatched Funhouse recently. Better than I remembered.

  • Anonymous

    Steve paid his way through college by sitting for portraits by Pablo Picasso.

  • Mr. Rational

    We are Siamese, if you please…

  • Anonymous

    “That’s the last time I use a discount cosmetic surgeon!”

  • Rock Baker

    Grandma Addams, like the rest of the family, REALLY got into halloween each year.

    I saw The Funhouse last year. I wasn’t impressed. I was a little shocked by the early nude scene from our leading lady. The exact thought that went through my brain as she opened her robe was “That is one stacked 8 year old.”

  • Anonymous

    Never saw this one, I had skipped a lot of the gorier ’80s stuff. It’s amusing to think that the lead, Elizabeth Berridge, went from this to playing the female lead in Amadeus. After that her career mostly consisted of TV work.

  • Rock Baker

    I sort of ran across the film by accident, you could say. I find the carnival stuff neat and all, but THE FUNHOUSE was ultimately a slasher-type affair. I’ll stick with SHE-FREAK.

  • The Rev.

    I don’t recall this being that gory, really.  Of course, considering my love of zombie movies, I might’be been desensitized by the time I saw this.

    I wasn’t overly impressed with it, I do recall that.

  • Anonymous

    The novelization was a lot better.  It was written by Dean Koontz under the pseudonym Owen West.

  • Sandy Petersen

    It was okay. Nothing spectacular. Certainly better than The Burning or The Final Terror or Maniac or Silent Night Deadly Night or … a host of other 80s slasher movies. And I’m actually a buff of slasher movies.

    Of course a non-buff should steer clear of every single slasher except Halloween, Black Christmas, the Last Horror Show, and Twitch of the Death Nerve. Those rule in anyone’s book.

  • Rock Baker

    I can’t say that I care for slashers, but the one I did really enjoy was My Bloody Valentine. It beat the odds by being well written, well cast, and well made. It’s a slasher, sure, but head and shoulders (and hips and knees) above everything else in its genre.

    Although it set everything in place, is Halloween really a slasher? Or is it a hold over from the earlier psycho-thriller genre? Or is it a handsome mid-point in cinema history?

  • Fisheyenomiko

    Do you mean The Last Horror Film?

  • David Lee Ingersoll

    Given that the Halloween sequels are all (except Season of the Witch) slashers I’d say Halloween gets to be a slasher by default. It helped set up a lot of the tropes of the genre. 

  • Mr. Rational

    I would add April Fool’s Day to this list.

  • Rock Baker

    It did, but I think FRIDAY THE 13TH solidified everything into a ready slate for countless knock-offs. HALLOWEEN actually more resembles a 70’s psycho-horror film than the more base slashers of the next decade. Sort of like how FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE was a Bond movie, but bears little in common with the films following GOLDFINGER. Still, I can’t really argue with your point.

  • Anonymous

    April Fool’s Day is far far better than it has any reason to be. 

    The Funhouse, not so much.  It sure was a staple on cable back in the 80s though.

  • The Rev.

    APF wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really grip me and the ending kind of fell flat for me.  Better than The Funhouse, though, definitely.

  • The Rev.

    I haven’t seen The Final Terror, but I rather liked the other three.  (To be fair, I liked SN,DN because I found it enjoyably bad once it got rolling.  Good kills, though.)  I actually thought The Burning one of the better slashers.

    Halloween and Black Christmas…wish I’d seen them a lot sooner than I did (early 20s and last year, respectively) because they’re definitely top-notch.  They’re even lacking in full-on gore, so Ken could enjoy them, too!  I haven’t seen the other two, although I probably should if you’re recommending them in the same breath.  (To be fair, TotDN has been on the list for a while.)

  • Sandy Petersen

    the one with Joe Spinell. AKA Fanatic

  • Sandy Petersen

    I disagree – Halloween is a classic slasher and plainly so. I think some people try to shoehorn it into other categories, because they can tell it’s a good movie, and they don’t want to admit they like slasher movies. Since other slashers are specifically imitating Halloween, it’s pretty clear. 

  • Sandy Petersen

    Well I was trying to rate quality of horror movies for a “normal person”. I think you have to be a pretty far gone slasher buff to say The Burning is a good movie. Yeah I liked it too, but I even liked Mothers Day.

    For a horror buff who’s not into slashers, I stick with my original four.

  • The Rev.

    Okay, that makes sense.  Your original four for non-slasher fans are good ones.  However, the lady of the house also liked The Burning.  She likes horror movies but is by no means a slasher fan, so this experience may have skewed my judgment of its appeal.

    I haven’t seen Mother’s Day so I can’t comment.

  • Rock Baker

    I can’t say I LIKED the film THE BURNING, but I must admit it was particularly well-made for a slasher. Even there, the young Jason Alexander displayed a screen presence one wouldn’t have expected.