It's A Countdown To The End Of The World

A HORROR MOVIE-A-DAY-A-THON KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY-A-THON

Saturday, October 20th-Ghostbusters (1984) Written by Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis Directed by Ivan Reitman
Stars Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis

When three parapsychology experts are canned, they go into business for themselves as "Ghostbusters."

I have fond memories of this movie from childhood, it was one of my favorites then and today it is still probably in my Top Ten movies of all time list. I enjoyed the hell out of it as a kid, but especially once you're old enough to appreciate all of the nerdy jokes contained within, it's about twenty times better. While Ghostbusters is very much a comedy, there are definitely some pretty terrifying moments (the gargoyle dog things, anyone?) throughout the film. I typically make it a point to watch this movie at least once a month or so, and there are very few movies that I can do that with. Question-Does Ghostbusters stand the test of time? Answer-Yes. FINAL GRADE: A+

Sunday, October 21st-Ghostbusters II (1989) Written by Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis Directed by Ivan Reitman
Stars Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis

The out of work Ghostbusters are called into active duty when a river of slime begins causing mysterious spectral disturbances in New York City.

As a general rule of thumb, most horror/sci-fi sequels aren't really that great (with the obvious exception of Aliens and Evil Dead II), but Ghostbusters II, while not surpassing the first film, is definitely still as good as the original. Probably the biggest contribution to this is the fact that the same creative team (Reitman, Ramis and Aykroyd) as the original helmed this project and that the core cast remains the same (even Annie Potts as secretary Janine Melnitz). The script and the jokes are definitely as strong this time around, and the romance between Louis (Moranis) and Janine is pretty entertaining to watch. If all sequels were this solid, I wouldn't be as opposed to them. FINAL GRADE: A-

Monday, October 22nd-Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Written & Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Stars Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O' Herlihy

A Halloween mask making company is gonna kill a bunch of kids because of something to do with Stonehenge or some stupid bullshit like that...I don't really care.

The first Halloween by John Carpenter was a groundbreaking horror film that gave us the terrifying horror icon Michael Myers and basically invented the slasher genre. Does this film have anything to do with any of the things mentioned in the previous sentence? With the exception of John Carpenter doing the music and executive producing this piece of shit, the answer is no. Nobody in the film seems to care about anything that's going on, particularly when Tom Atkins' character responds "Who cares?" when the girl he's railing hears someone being killed in the next room. There's nothing redeeming about this film at all, even the moments to laugh at the film are too few and far between to make this a Batman The Movie type of experience. Do yourself a favor and just give this movie a pass. FINAL GRADE: F

Tuesday, October 23rd-The Crow (1994) Written by David J. Schow & John Shirley Directed by Alex Proyas
Stars Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott

On the anniversary of the murder of him and his fiancee, a rock guitarist comes back to avenge the murders with a mysterious Crow that grants him supernatural powers.

Based on the comic by James O' Barr and Brandon Lee's final film (he was killed during the shooting when a prop gun misfired a lodged round and struck him), I originally saw this film when I was eleven years old and was drawn to the dark tone of it (much like Tim Burton's Batman films from that period of time) and I was a fan of action films with a touch of the supernatural to them. Lee's action sequences are always fun to watch (his only other film I'd seen was Rapid Fire but his martial arts scenes are badass, and one should only hope so since he's, y'know, the son of Bruce Lee). Regardless of the irritating Hot Topic/Goth subculture who hail this film and regularly dress like Brandon Lee's character, The Crow really is a great film and easily worth a viewing if you haven't seen it yet. FINAL GRADE: A

Wednesday, October 24th-The Faculty (1998) Written by Kevin Williamson Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Stars Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Clea Duvall, Shawn Hatosy

Six students learn that their school faculty have become host to an alien parasite.

Is this the most original sci-fi/horror film? No. In fact, the film even references (repeatedly) its Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Puppetmasters-like plot and there is even a scene where the six main characters perform a test to find out who among them is human and who is alien which is lifted almost straight out of John Carpenter's The Thing. While not reinventing the wheel by any means, it serves its purpose as the 90s update of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (one of my favorite films, by the way) and is entertaining regardless of the over used core story. Like Rodriguez' other entry on my list (From Dusk Till Dawn), I have the same feeling of being let down at the very end of the film for some reason, because it just seems like there should be more to it than there is, but I don't know what it is. FINAL GRADE: B

Thursday, October 25th-The Rocky Horror Show (2007) Written by Richard O' Brien
Stars a bunch of people from OU I don't know and one kid I went to high school with

A straight laced couple break down outside the bizarre castle of cross-dressing mad scientist Frank-n-Furter.

I've seen the movie version, and for the most part I enjoy it. I think it drags on once it reaches the cabaret floor show portion, but everything up to that is pretty solid. Sarah took me along to see this last Thursday, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The performers were very entertaining, but I discovered that my biggest gripe was actually with the audience participation/call-and-response portion of the show. Some of the audience jokes were funny, but mostly they were just annoying (as if I needed another excuse to be irritated with theater people). All in all though, it was a fun experience and if nothing else it was a night out with Sarah so the show wasn't too bad. FINAL GRADE: C+

Friday, October 26th-John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) Written by Bill Lancaster Directed by John Carpenter
Stars Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David

An assimilating alien organism is let loose upon a group of scientists at an Arctic research station, and they quickly become uncertain of who among them is human and who is the Thing.

Is this my favorite John Carpenter film? Probably. Based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr., Carpenter's film (a remake of the Howard Hawks 1951 joint The Thing From Another World) is a much more visually disturbing film as well as building suspense among the main characters when they each begin to doubt who amongst them is still human. The creature effects are both horrifying and revolting at the same time, and most importantly Kurt Russell is doing what he does best...being a fucking badass motherfucker, and in the end, that's really what every movie needs. FINAL GRADE: A+