Friday August 31 through Thursday September 6, 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007
Splatter Farm - 1987


Another disc from the Camp Motion Pictures folks. I love these retro movies. But oh god, this was done by the Polonia brothers. Stand by for hurt! These guys are enthusiastic, but especially early on, they made some serious crap. Shot on video, no acting ability (and they are both main characters), fakey gore (but lots of it!).


Commentary by John and Mark Polonia. This was their first full movie, before Feeders. At least they are honest. "unforgivable framing issues". $100 budget. That's impressive, even today's micro budgets with digital equipment. It's amazing for 1987.


LOL! "It doesn't have much of a plot, but its for undiscriminating people." No really, they said it.


Other Extras: Back to the Farm, interviews with the brothers, making of. Once again, at least they are honest about what it is. And there's a whole slew of Super-8 shorts they made as kids. If you like that kind of thing, you will love this. Otherwise, it's kinda funny with their commentaries about their childhood.


Deadtime Stories - 1986


Horror anthology from the late 80's, so you know it's gonna be fun. Not to be taken seriously. And the music, I love that Casio synth sound. This was a fun way to end the evening. Definitely worth a watch, if you like that 80's vibe.


Saturday, September 1, 2007
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film - 2006 documentary

This is a pretty interesting history of the slasher film, from before Halloween up to the present. LOTS of Tom Savini. Interesting, if shallow. Really more historical, with only a little psychology.

Commentary by 2 producers and an editor, none of who's names I caught. Really didn't add a lot, except the difficulties of getting releases. Other extras include bonus interviews John Dunning, Paul Lynch , (the late) Bob Clark, Joseph Stefano, Fred Walton, and Stan Winston. Plus a Horror Trivia contest that's partially too easy and partially too hard.

Sunday, September 2, 2007
Halloween - 1978 & Halloween - 2007

Today my wife and I did something unusual. We went over to Sean and Tracey's house, and watched the original Halloween. We then went out and saw Rob Zombie's Halloween. So, here's my comparison of the two. Yeah, I know, I don't normally do this, but here, variety is the very spice of life.

The John Carpenter Halloween is a brilliant movie, in that it is both believable (mostly due to great dialogue) and impossible (Michael Myers can't die) at the same time. AND, it's virtually bloodless, even when there would have HAD to be blood (guy pinned to the wall with a knife, and the camera cuts to the floor to show that his feet are off the ground. Blood should have been running down there, but there's none). Rob Zombie's Halloween is almost the exact opposite. It is a bloody slaughter, and Michael Myers is just a messed up guy who can die.

I'll give Rob Zombie credit, the family that produces Michael certainly seemed like it certainly could have made a serial killer. They also could have been the next door neighbors of the Devil's Rejects. Very similar. Absolutely deplorable people. And the movie moves along, compressing an hour of John Carpenter's version into 30 minutes, as he has 45 minutes at the beginning that Carpenter only spends like 5 minutes on.

How do they compare, having seen them virtually side by side? Although they tell the same story, they are very different movies. Carpenter's is very "mental", with lots of tension. Zombie's is very visual, with lots of blood and action. What kind of movie you like will determine which you prefer.

Monday, September 3, 2007
Horrors of Malformed Men - 1969

WOW! Look at all the boobies in the opening scene. That really makes you think you're in for a good time. But this movie is actually closer to a Japanese David Lynch movie. Within fifteen minutes, I was saying "WTF?" about every five minutes. Very bizarre.

Commentary with film critic Mark Schilling and a friend that I couldn't understand the name. The friend asks good questions. Lots of history of the director, who evidently made both mainstream action movies, and then these surreal movies. Unfortunately, the commentary is truly flawed. There's a big blank space at 35 minutes that lasts for about 10 minutes. And even when they start back up, they keep stopping for minutes at a time. Truly irritating.

Other extras include Malformed Memories - modern famous Japanese directors talk about seeing Ishii's films. Then there's an interview with Ishii about author Rampo, who wrote the stories this movie was based on. Finally, there's Ishii in Italia - director's trip to Italy with mark chilling (commentator). He is humble and had the "independent spirit". Something that both directors above comment on.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Masters of Horror: Mick Garris - Valerie on the Stairs - 2007

Christopher Lloyd! Slow, trying to be atmospheric. And we recognize the voice, so we know who the demon is. Tony Todd! Predictable and dumb. I'm unimpressed.

Commentary by writer/director Mick Garris. Pretty standard stuff. He does admit that it's a little abbreviated. Still, he's more impressed with it than I was.

Other extras include "Spine Tingler: Making of". Fair, but too self-important. The details of the tech stuff are good, though. Also Jump Scare: Editing Valerie - MUCH more interesting and too short.

Wednesday and Thursday, September 5 & 6, 2007
Robot Chicken: Season 1 - 2005

Seth Green rocks! An almost entirely stop action animation series. Now THIS is funny. Episodes are short, and cuttingly funny. I laughed out loud a lot!

And every episode has a commentary by Seth Green & head writers. The commentaries themselves are not great, but there's some interesting info. But they do admit that towards the end, they're running out of things to say.

Other extras include Deleted Scenes. Too bad, as several were VERY funny. And some deleted Animatics. Plus some behind the scenes, which were very good, as they had some cool technical stuff. It's amazing to see the whole facility where they're doing 12 scenes at once.