Halloween Viewing Log 2009

[AwallaceUNC]

Post here every time you watch something Halloween-related between now and 10/31!

So far this Halloween season, I've watched:

Films
• The Addams Family (1991)
• Batman (1989)
• Batman Returns (1992)
• The Dark Side of Oz (1939 / 1973)
• Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993)
• Ghosts (1997)
• Halloween (1978)
• Halloweentown (1998)
• Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001)
• Hocus Pocus (1993)
• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
• Michael Jackson's This Is It ("Thriller" segment) (2009)
• Michael Jackson: Live in Japan ("Thriller" segment) (1987)
• Michael Jackson: Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour ("Thriller" segment) (1993)
• The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)
• The Ring (2002)
• The Shining (1980)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
• Thriller (1983)
• Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
• Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)


TV Shows
• "30 Rock"
--Stone Mountain (2009)
• "7th Heaven"
--Halloween (1996)
• "Alvin and the Chipmunks"
--Trick or Treason (1994)
--Babysitter Fright Night (1988)
--Theodore's Life as a Dog (1988)
--Nightmare on Seville Street (1989)
--No Chipmunk is an Island (1988)
• "Desperate Housewives"
--Now I Know, Don't Be Scared (2007)
• "Eastwick"
--Pilot (2009)
--Reaping and Sewing (2009)
--Madams and Madames (2009)
--Fleas and Casserole (2009)
--Mooning and Crooning (2009)
--Bonfire and Betrayal (2009)
• "Ellen"
--Trick or Treat -- Who Cares? (1995)
--The Bubble Gum Incident (1996)
• "Flash Forward"
--Scary Monsters and Super Creeps" (2009)
• "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"
--Someday Your Prince Will Be in Effect (Part 1)
--Someday Your Prince Will Be in Effect (Part 2)
• "The Office"
--Koi Pond (2009)
• "The Simpsons"
--Treehouse of Horror V (1994)
--Treehouse of Horror XX (2009)
• "Sherri"
--Stronger (2009)
• "The View"
--Halloween Costumes/Khloe Kardashian (2009)
--Turning a Home into a Haunted House (2009)

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-Aaron

[PixarFan2006]

So far, I have watched:

MOVIES
The Addams Family (1991)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Army of Darkness (1991)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Child's Play (1988)
Child's Play 2 (1990)
Child's Play 3 (1991)
Corpse Bride (2005)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Dead Alive (A.K.A. Braindead) (1992)
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Frankenstein (1910)
Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1942)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Kong Kong (1933)
Nosferatu (1922)
Psycho (1960)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Young Frankenstein (1974)

TV SHOWS

King of the Hill
Hilloween

Mystery Science Theater 3000
"Manos, the Hands of Fate"

The Simpsons
Treehouse of Horror (I, II, III, IV, XIX, XX)

South Park
Death
Hell on Earth 2006
Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery
Pinkeye
Spookyfish

SHORTS/SPECIALS
Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985)
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (1966)
Trick or Treat (1952)

[PeterPanfan]

The Craft (1996)
The Birds (1963)
Final Destination (2000)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
The Stepfather (2009)
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Welcome to the Hellmouth
The Harvest

"Supernatural"
Wendigo
Dead in the Lake
Phantom Travelers
Bloody Mary
Skin
Hook Man
Bugs
Home

"So Weird"
Family Reunion

"Dawson's Creek"
Living Dead Girl

Friends
"The One with the Halloween Party"

[Cordy_Biddle]

The Blair Witch Project

"Bewitched": A Safe and Sane Halloween

[Flanger-Hanger]

Hocus Pocus once so far on the 2nd.

[slave2moonlight]

Sucks because I don't have much time when I'm not at work, and I have so much else to do lately that there's just not much movie watching time right now. Anyway, if this started today, I did watch the Scare Tactics marathon all the time I was at home (last night I watched the Hills Have Eyes remake and part of Monster Squad before I had to go to sleep, and I watched some other stuff over the weekend, but I guess we're starting on the 6th for some reason, so...).

Scare Tactics marathon, a few hours of it at least (it stopped at 9 central).

Edit: I just noticed the first post did include already watched stuff this month, so here are some of mine that I remember for October already: Mad Monster Party
The Burrowers
The Hills Have Eyes remake
From Within
The Beyond
Ghost Hunters (with Meatloaf! Great ep!)
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special
Halloween with the New Addams Family (though it was really the old Addams Family, though I saw the old Wednesday in a new light)
And... that's all I can remember. Odds are I'm forgetting something.

[Cordy_Biddle]

Psycho (the original with Perkins & Leigh)

[slave2moonlight]

Since last time, I've watched Company of Wolves, The Beyond (commentary), and She-Creature (which I picked up today at Big Lots for 3 bucks; so awesome, because I'd been wanted to get it for a long time).

[Cordy_Biddle]

"The Mrs Bradley Mysteries": The Worsted Viper

[slave2moonlight]

Tonight I saw Zombieland and Trick or Treat (which I bought on blu). Loved them both. I could nit pick on Zombieland and I prefer creepy, slow zombies (the fast ones are probably better for an action comedy though), but in general I loved it.

Also, I saw the new Smallville, which may have been this year's "Halloween episode", since it was about 28 Days Later style zombies. Actually a pretty good episode. They haven't had many in a while.

[Cordy_Biddle]

Hocus Pocus
Beetlejuice

[Cordy_Biddle]

"Beetlejuice: The Animated Series": Spooky Boo-tique

[slave2moonlight]

I've been going through the Dracula Legacy Collection today. Watched Dracula and Dracula's Daughter so far. Yesterday afternoon, I tried to watch Dracula with the new musical score, but I was operating on too little sleep yesterday and conked out pretty quick. I don't think the new score helped. When I watched it today, I watched the original version. Hopefully, I'll see another film from the set tonight before going to sleep. I also watched Trick or Treat again (last night), showing it to my parents this time, who really liked it, and also last night I watched "Vault of Horror" and "Tales from the Crypt" on the double feature DVD which I bought from Wal-Mart the same day (5 bucks! Nice! Also bought Evil Dead 2 on blu there for 10).

[Cordy_Biddle]

I've been going through the Dracula Legacy Collection today. Watched Dracula and Dracula's Daughter so far. Yesterday afternoon, I tried to watch Dracula with the new musical score, but I was operating on too little sleep yesterday and conked out pretty quick. I don't think the new score helped. When I watched it today, I watched the original version. Hopefully, I'll see another film from the set tonight before going to sleep. I also watched Trick or Treat again (last night), showing it to my parents this time, who really liked it, and also last night I watched "Vault of Horror" and "Tales from the Crypt" on the double feature DVD which I bought from Wal-Mart the same day (5 bucks! Nice! Also bought Evil Dead 2 on blu there for 10).

What did you think of "Draula's Daughter"? It's the first official 'sequel' to Universal's "Dracula", taking place quite soon after the first movie finishes. I find Gloria Holden's performance as the female "vampire" with pseudo-lesbian overtones quite fascinating. A bold character only possible in Pre-Code Hollywood.

[UmbrellaFish]

A few episodes of Goosebumps and The Twilight Zone (and if you want to include it, Snow White). I'll have to watch some more and get it the Halloween spirit a little bit.

[slave2moonlight]

What did you think of "Draula's Daughter"? It's the first official 'sequel' to Universal's "Dracula", taking place quite soon after the first movie finishes. I find Gloria Holden's performance as the female "vampire" with pseudo-lesbian overtones quite fascinating. A bold character only possible in Pre-Code Hollywood.

I liked Dracula's Daughter. It was neat to see it pick up right after the first, and yes, Holden was very good, and I of course enjoyed the cutie who unfortunately met her end at the hands of the vampiress. I think I liked Son of Dracula a bit more though. Of course, I'm a Wolfman fan more than anything, and tonight I watched House of Dracula and enjoyed that very much, even if it isn't the best of the films with Wolf Man in it (at least he finally has a happy ending though). I also watched the other film in the Dracula set, the Spanish version. Now, I know a lot of folks think it's a great and sometimes even better version than the Lugosi one. Well, while it was less dull, I must say that I didn't find Dracula himself as satisfying. His face didn't really seem scary to me and he had some very odd reactions/interpretations. At times, particularly early on, it almost seemed like a spoof. More lively and entertaining than the very straight played Lugosi Dracula film, perhaps, but a bit too campy to be at all creepy, ha.

Anyway, as for my log update, as I said, saw the Spanish version of Dracula and House of Dracula.

[littlefuzzy]

I've been going through the Friday the 13th movies, I just finished 3 (in 3-D).

[slave2moonlight]

Wow, all I got around to watching today was the new episode of Scare Tactics. I'm going to try to squeeze something in before going to sleep, though I don't know if I'll get to or if it will be Halloween-ish.

[Lazario]

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Season 5, Episode #13: "Oil's Well That Ends Well"


Priscilla Presley, naturally from the hilarious Naked Gun trilogy, only seems to act in projects that are - for one reason or another - complete jokes. This one is no exception. A fairly lousy riff on sexism and feminism with a blinding number of characters involved in a shady business deal. Pris rants loudly in campy monotone and kicks shallow ass, but not before the Southern-accented gang of woman-haters get in some lame digs at her. The twist is a good idea but one neat explosion comes too late in the game and you have to wish there was a reason there were so many people (including Motel Hell's brother-villain Rory Calhoun, whose throat is so dry he can barely speak, and The Howling's Noble Willingham) around. A character remarks about the desert-cemetery, "this place gives me the creeps." Really? Then, you're the only one getting them. Maybe with fewer guys and better re-writes at the dialogue, there could be room for some much-needed atmosphere. Too much talk here.



Season 5, Episode #14: "Half-Way Horrible"


Clancy Brown, famous for being Mr. Crabs on SpongeBob SquarePants but also well-known in cult circles as the sadistic zombie-sheriff in the crappy Pet Sematary Two, gets to be a zombie again. In yet another voodoo-themed episode which goes through the motions, all of them tepid. Jon Tenney (Masters of Horror: Homecoming) and Charles Martin Smith (Starman) also star and get really dumb supporting roles. Especially Smith who looks incredibly uncomfortable and unloads an insane amount of irritating one-liners in maybe half a minute's screentime. And then, flashbacks. Can anyone shoot a voodoo-themed movie or show without going to the jungle? It's not that aesthetically interesting. You see one jungle and one native cannibal tribe in National Geographic- you've seen them all. Martin Kove (The Last House on the Left) also snores his way through a tiny role. Only Cheech Marin, his 20-second voodoo ceremony, and Clancy's eventual breakdown keep this from being a total failure. Here's one spineless, back-stabbing villain I was rooting for. His friends are morons. This one just wants to be the voodoo Re-Animator, with blue glo-stick juice rather than green.



Season 5, Episode #15: "Til Death Do We Part"


This episode is based on some really lame ideas. But admittedly, they do bare fruit and blossom into a few minutes of good television. Full House's Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) plays an all-smiles on-the-outside but crying-on-the-inside manwhore to a vicious mob-wife who is out to prove to everyone she's not one to be messed with. He's got a nasty habit of picking up chicks to bang behind her back but he always gets found out and then, she has them whacked. He dreams of scheming with these girls to rob her blind and go live the American-Dream with her riches and start a family. But unfortunately, his dreams and his reality both end the same way - with him doomed to be a slave to someone else. So, through flashes back, forward, and sideways into his mind, this one manages to go further into character details than most from this show. This results in a few inspired and human moments (especially Eileen Brennan's "sweet-nature" humiliation). But the reality here is- the whole thing rides on good looking faces. The cliches take hold at the getgo and make it tame, the acting fails to cap the promising character starters, several touches of humor are unnecessary, and the episode's desire for sympathy never gets past the shallow quality of John Stamos's prettyboy face. The man is simply not deep enough to pull this off. Nor is his love interest, though her scant-clad dressing tendancy does make for one of my favorite quotes of the show. Eileen Brennan's reaction to finding Kate Vernon in her underwear is a howler.

[Lazario]

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Season 4, Episode #10: "Maniac at Large"

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I guess something about having John Frankenheimer, Blythe Danner, and Clarence Williams III on the same episode classes this one up a little. This sophisticated yet wild and paranoid suspense yarn is a new kind of fun for the series. The dialogue is indulgent but well-played and unsettling, and Danner's bouts of hysteria do pay off by the end for what has to be one of the show's most genius twists.

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Season 3, Episode #1: "The Trap"

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This one's a little silly (just look at the cast) but riotously funny at times. Especially during the accidental near-cremation, the Jury forewoman's much too-personal reading of the verdict, and Bruce McGill's angry explosion to sexy Carlos Lacamara's love of sunsets. It's a hasty little twister but, one can't say he didn't have it coming. A basic case of an ingrate who couldn't let well-enough alone. The creepy undertone could have been made much more overt, but I'm not complaining. This just isn't the first episode you're going to run to for terror. Perhaps it should have been kept toward the finale of the season. Carroll Baker (Kindergarten Cop) once again plays the mother from hell - nobody does it better!



Season 3, Episode #5: "Top Billing"

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Another contender for "best episode of the entire show" award, who would have thunk that this Jon Lovitz outing would be anything but simply sardonic and just an amusing little side-order? This 'struggling actor' (or - actor versus actor) piece is stark, cold, genuinely shocking and chilling, and surprisingly intense. It's not (necessarily) because Lovitz is that good. He's a schlub. You expect him to fail if he takes himself this seriously. No, I don't think it's him. It's his character- which you do buy as a person so serious about what he does, so he's fed up with rejection and tough breaks that he just can't take one more loss. Then, with the right stylistic features, tight editing, and an amazingly creepy cast of supporting characters including John Astin (Gomez Addams, of course) as a hammy madman director, Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) as the frostiest agent I've ever seen, and the eccentrically deadpan Paul Benedict (The Jeffersons, The Addams Family movie) as the gay wardrobe man - who delivers one of the show's scariest moments, by just giving a simple piece of advice. The amazing Sandra Bernhard also puts in a great little cameo as a casting woman. Andy Dick later parodied her on The Ben Stiller Show in a hilarious bit where she was the one auditioning for Janeane Garofalo- playing a casting woman.



Season 3, Episode #6: "Dead Wait"

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One of the show's grossest episodes, Tobe Hooper (director of the immortal 1974 masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) does Tales' best voodoo episode, with Whoopi Goldberg and Vanity fighting over this wicked hunk of a redhead and both of them wanting something from him they'd kill for. It's nasty, bloody, gruesome, and features loads of double-crossing. I found it to be inspired for its' type with good gore, a classic performance by Whoopi (at least at the end, when she guests on the Cryptkeeper's David Letterman-esque talk show), and... did I mention that redhed (James Remar) is a real hunk? So, it's kind of all about him as a conman with little brains but a high opinion of himself. The twist is almost unexpected- you just don't see Whoopi wielding machetes too often. She's no Jason Voorhees.



Season 3, Episode #8: "Easel Kill Ya"

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Another surprisingly ultra-serious episode, with cute and broody Tim Roth playing a boozing artiste who attends self-help classes for Obsessives but can't get past his problems until he sells just one painting. He finally sells one but that just makes his problems worse. Sounds like we've got a guy who doesn't know himself too well. I have no sympathy for people like that. Personally, I don't get people who spend a lot of time alone, working and thinking, and don't have themselves figured out. Who have no sense of goals and priorities. So, the deep drama of this episode fails on a level of drama. But as a thriller, psychological or shallowly superficial, the mood here is dire and aptly broad. And that's all that matters for a 30-minute cable tv project. Enter: William Atherton (Ghostbusters). A manipulative, smug, and kind-of abusive figure in Jack's life (Roth). You have to love his cocky "show me what you got" attitude with him pressuring Jack to prove he's morbid, when it quickly turns into a cool and detached challenge to explore his inner-demons. He's definitely playing the devil on Jack's shoulder, without having a clue what havoc he's causing. Jack's desperation is a kind of prize all its' own to this guy. This basically overrules the unbelievable turn at the end, where he dishes out $100,000 for a dinner-plate-sized cardboard "painting" that's just red with a little of what looks like fake pink brains on it. Even a pre-schooler could show more imagination than that!



Season 3, Episode #11: "Split Second"

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Here's one of the show's sleaziest and most nudie-rific episodes. Michelle Johnson (Death Becomes Her, Dr. Giggles) shows off her huge boobs and gropes Billy Worth's crotch through his jeans in closeup, doing her darndest to get her psychotic lumberyard-owning husband jealous to the point of making him practically kill a couple people... even though his jealousy bores her. I can't tell what this episode's biggest flaw is, but it's either the wife or the husband. Or, maybe it's the sexist black lumberjack. Why is he such a hypocrite? He'd "pet" her if she asked for it, yet he's the most self-righteous about telling all the guys of how she's trying to ruin all their male bonding. This one could use a little more sensitivity, or equal-opportunity sexism. You get a good feel for her character at the start but, she just can't make up her mind. She blames money for why she's stuck in these hopeless situations and for why she pushes the mens' buttons. And the husband blames pressure from environmentalists for some of his psychotic rage. He's good at psychotic rage, making for a real compelling psycho-villain. And as for her, her theories on "boredom" mixed with the great piano score give this episode great flavor. But, if there's a point- it gets lost in the much-too sadistic violence and the admittedly great final death scene spectacle.



Season 3, Episode #13: "Spoiled"

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Here's a fun one, about a soap opera-fanatic housewife who wishes her romantic life were as dramatically satisfying and eventful as the lives of her favorite vixens on TV. Her problem is her scientist/doctor husband is a stiff. I think the big problem here is: him. I can't for the life of me figure out why he won't get an assistant to help him do his experiments. His time keeps getting taken away from his wife because he wants to do everything himself. Yet, he has time to question her extra-marital activities and to be nasty to the ultra-studly Anthony LaPaglia (Innocent Blood), the cable-TV installer. There are so many scenes of hubby disappointing, standing up, neglecting, and ignoring his wife - driving her to many acts of desperation - where does he get off being upset when he finds out she's cheating on him? If ever a character deserved a free-pass to cheat on their spouse, it's this woman! So, this episode gets high-marks for originality and novelty. But, even though the ending keeps in context with the soap opera meets mad scientist vibes of the episode, it could have been more satisfying if the husband were the one being experimented on.