I was shocked and saddened to learn about the passing of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper a couple weeks back. In addition to being one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, Roddy Piper teamed with my favorite director John Carpenter in 1988 for a movie that has had a profound influence on my own work--They Live. At the time They Live came out, both Carpenter and Piper were both still huge in their respective industries. Carpenter had been on a decade-long directorial run of amazing genre movies that included Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Christin[...]
Tag
horror movies
0 When people ask me about the first horror movie I’ve ever watched, it’s usually Poltergeist that jumps to mind, mainly because I saw it when I was too young and that stupid clown scarred me for life. In reality though, Jaws was my first horror movie. I saw it when I was about six or seven years old, when my family was vacationing in Wells Beach, Maine. The TV was right next to the sliding glass doors of the cottage, through which I could see directly into the ocean. Yes, I watched Jaws less than a football field away from the water. To say that it profoundly[...]
Being a horror fan, when I heard of the remake of Spielberg's 1982 movie POLTERGEIST, my reaction should have been... However, it was more like... Why? I am a fan of the original. There is nothing wrong with it. So many people, including many of us here at The Midnight Society, have been scarred for life by the clown doll, kid-eating tree, and child-devouring closet. Fabulous stuff, people. So, a remake? From this... to this... The trailers made it obvious that the special effects were... well, special. But was this movie the same story with updated[...]
OR CAN YOU? Alright kids, if you haven't heard, MTV is putting out Scream, yes as in the Scream movies, as a TV series. All of the promos for this show make me so happy, but this one's my favorite. The best thing about the Scream movies was that they have a sense of humor about them, largely put together by Randy. You remember Randy? source I really hope the TV series has a Randy. Here are two more trailers, because they're actually funny which makes them worth watching. The series will premiere on June 30th. MURDER. MAYHEM. JOKES. Will you[...]
Here's the next installment of Hidden Gem. There are so many great horror movies out there—both domestic and foreign—that don’t get the love they deserve, usually because they don’t fall under the mainstream film category (like say the Friday the 13th movie franchise or Scream does). So for my second post on Hidden Gem, I’m focusing another favorite of mine: The Loved Ones. Hidden Gem: The Loved Ones This is another film that I discovered thanks to Bree Ogden. This is a film that you either have to luck into on TV or buy. Or, if you're in[...]
It's Wednesday! Time for another post exploring all things inspired by that classic tale, Frankenstein! We've gone over the first time Frankenstein took to the screen, now let's explore something a wee bit more recent, the 1994 film starring Robert De Niro (as the creature) and Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth. A few parts of this one had me hugging my pillow. Helena Bonham Carter. I mean... what can I say? Interesting bit of trivia on this one: the word monster was banned from the set. The credits billed Robert De Niro as "The Sharp-Featured Man" ([...]
If you've tiptoed through The Midnight Society's cemetery, you know a few things about us. Watching horror flick that fit the season is one of them. We are all pretty versed in A Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton. This is a definite favorite here, but there are so many more horrors that surround this December holiday. GREMLINS One of my all-time favorite movies from my childhood is Gremlins. Who knew Christmas could be so crazy?? The Rules: 1. No food after midnight. 2. No water. 3. No bright light. As each of those rules are violated, chaos ensues. T[...]
I was thinking about high school horror movies after Jennifer BrinkMeyer's recent post. High school's always been my favorite setting for a disturbing story. Kevin Williamson has been responsible for the scripts of a lot of these movies. He wrote Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer and over a hundred episodes of The Vampire Diaries. One of his lesser known screenplays was Teaching Mrs. Tingle, starring Katie Holmes and Helen Mirren. Marisa Coughlan's wacky character Jo Lynn, who desperately wants to be an actress and die in a few horror movies, is probab[...]
Welcome to Odd Sundays with JB! I've got some fun features to kick off in September, but for the next couple of Odd Sundays, we're going to have some fun. As a movie-lover, I use movies to psych me up for different events. This week, I go back to teaching, so I made a list of horror movies to help kick off the pre-Halloween season. The Faculty (1998) The Breakfast Club meets The Body Snatchers. What says, "Welcome Back to School," better than a film that perpetuates the eroding trust between students and teachers? Disturbing Behavior (1998) Footloose meets Step[...]
The older I get, the more I come to realize that the best of my childhood fears offer markers for what I consider entertainment. I'm a monster girl at heart. Fangs, fur, claws, tentacles. I treasure the thing that lives in my closet. The thing that lives under my bed. They have special places in my heart, and often, they need to be fed to be kept happy. When the trailer for The Babadook's Sundance debut began circulating a few months ago, I clamped both hands to my desk, cranked the volume up, and tittered my way through the pounding in my ears. Maybe it's just m[...]