Happy Halloween!!!

Head Trauma

Head Trauma is a pretty weird and freaky film.
I think they had the right idea but it wasn't totally realized in the film.

George (Vince Mola) has been away for 20 years. It is never said where he has been, but he has recently arrived back in his home town after this long absence.
He has returned to claim his grandmother's house which is scheduled for demolition. It is condemned and so George wants to fix it up to save it from the wrecking ball.
He sets up camp (seriously, he literally sets up a tent in the living room of the empty house) and sets about cleaning things up.

A neighbors grandson comes over to investigate, and he and George have a scuffle because George thinks he's a squatter and neighbor Julian thinks he's broken into the home. George succeeds in falling down some steps and hitting his head in the little fight.

On a side note, this is apparently where the 'head trauma' title comes from. I don't really like the title after seeing the whole film - it deserves a more fitting title. It is not a medical mystery like the name eludes to. And it almost gives too much away.
I can only assume they chose that title becuase the trauma to George's head is what has given way to all the paranoia and fear that starts.

Anyway, Julian is scolded by his grandma and made to help George clean up the house in retribution for 'throwing him down the steps'. So George and Julian make up.

A few days into the refurbishing, George starts seeing and hearing things, and believes that perhaps something bad has happened in the house. He starts to believe there are evil spirits after him, and with all the weird shit going on, you don't know whether there is something evil at work or if perhaps George should just punch his ticket for the looney tunes ride right now.

There is alot of creepy imagery and bizarre flashbacks that move this film along, but at times it is confusing.
Like the remotely similar Session 9, you are given clues (in the flashbacks and visions) that elude to the mystery of the house and of George - and it becomes obvious to the viewer that something very bad has perhaps happened in George's past and he has either outright forgotten it - or has chosen to put it away somewhere in his mind.

Head Trauma has alot of spooky moments, and I love the dark atmosphere it has.
But it is certainly not an action film - and those that like their horror fast paced will want to head elsewhere for their thrills.
But I'd give it a solid 3/5.

Stuck

Apparently this is based on true events.

Here's the synopsis of the movie -

Brandi (Mena Suvari) is a nurse assistant at a rather large nursing home, and she is up for a pretty nice promotion.
But Brandi likes to party with fellow co-workers and her drug-dealing boyfriend until late into the mornings.
One night, after some hefty drinking and popping some ecstasy, she gets in her car - utterly messed up - and promptly barrells down the street, slamming into a homeless guy crossing the street.

This presents a real dilemma for our girl.
The dude she hit is now STUCK - I mean wedged in like a vienna sausage in one of those little cans - in her front windshield. The windshield wiper is even impaling him through the side, let alone the compound leg fractures and obvious other bloody injuries.
And he's still alive.

Now, Brandi could do the smart thing (call 911 for pete's sake!) - and she even thinks about doing the next smartest thing (drop him at the ER)... but when she arrives at the ER (yes, she's still driving around with this poor gent stuffed in the windshield) there are medics taking an ambulance out and she is unable to just drop him off without being seen.

So she does the unimaginable.
She drives home and pulls the car into her garage.
To think that someone actually did this just amazes me.


Her louse of a boyfriend (who had a separate car and had to go to the store before going to her house) then arrives and she tells him all about it. He thinks she has struck a bum and left him for dead and no-one will even know. She lets him believe this and they hit the bedroom for some nocturnal fun. (again, can you believe it?)


Meanwhile, Tom (homeless guy) is awake and trying to figure out how to get out of the car.
These events all takes place over the course of just a day or so.

In another ghastly move, Brandi calls a taxi and goes to work the next day - leaving poor Tom dying in the garage.
When at work she is reprimanded for not calling if she was going to be late.
This is when Brandi discovers she left her cell phone in the car!


I don't want to spoil the ending, so I'll just leave it at that.

This film is actually just a gruesome morality play.
What would you do? Up for a big promotion, don't want to get busted for alcohol and drugs, let alone leaving the scene of a crime...


Well, I'd have called 911 regardless of the outcome, but hey- that's just me.

Much more of a black comedy than a straight forward horror film, this is one unique and original story.

Ripped from the headlines, it proves truth really IS stranger than fiction.


movie poster for 'Stuck'...

My pic for Halloween.
Wish you were here.

Someone needs to cut the grass...

Congrats!

Just wanted to give a big shout-out to my favorite podcast!



They are celebrating one year of podcasting and I have to say thanks for all the awesome episodes, guys! You've kept me totally entertained!

If you haven't had a chance to hear Ted and Tony ramble on aimlessly (just kidding!), you really need to gear up your MP3 player and give these guys a listen. Or just go to their website and hear it there.

They really know their horror and each week gift their listeners with conversations ranging from the latest movie to scary tv to conventions, gaming, books, music and all things horror!
Sometimes there is a theme, such as 'J-horror' or 'Tim Burton' - sometimes they just do a 'from the hip' episode and discuss whatever comes to mind - horror related of course!
For instance, recently they did a super episode on Kevin Bacon. When you think about how many genre films the man has done, it's amazing the episode wasn't split in two.

You can find a direct download for the show at http://www.horroretc.com/ or you can get it from iTunes - either way it's free and you can't go wrong with these two. They are intelligent and have alot of fun doing it.... and by fun I don't mean they are a couple of drunks giggling and talking about themselves like alot of awful podcasts I have heard!

There is also a cool forum where people like us (weirdos that live and breathe horror) can chat amoungst other like-minded folks! Hey, I'd rather be weird than ordinary, right?
It's easy to register, so get on there!

So thanks again to Horroretc.com for a year of great tuesday nights - and here's to another year, and another, and another... etc!

This one is in Ireland.
Nice gate.

Rogue

Oh yes, this movie is Jaws on Outback acid!



I wasn't expecting much from this movie, simply because I figured it was more of a 'crazed giant animal on the loose' movie-of-the-week.

Not so.
Simply put, 'Rogue', as you can tell by the dvd cover, is about a rogue, oversized crocodile in Australia and a group of tourists who get stranded in the croc's territory.

Surprisingly, I really liked this film. Compared with the other croc movie 'Primevil' (2007), this movie was Psycho and Primevil was the remake of Prom Night (ugh).

It is by the director (Greg McLean) of the un-nerving 'Wolf Creek' - and that guy knows something about tension.
And it wasn't like a creature feature of the week kind of thing. It was so much better than that.
The croc was a BIG one, yes - but not too unbelieveable.
In the dvd extras they explained they didn't want something that wasn't true-to-life, so they found that the biggest croc down there that anyone knew of was like 37 meters big (!!!) so they went with just 35 meters. Still, the thing was so huge. It really looked pretty authentic- they used both animatronic crocs and a bit of CGI - it was extremely realistic in my humble opinion.

I believe I will purchase this dvd for sure when the price goes below 10 bucks. It's worth multiple viewings in my book.




Radha Mitchell & Michael Vartan

The stars (Radha being of Silent Hill fame and Vartan was on Alias if you remember) were quite worthy and added a bit of star quality to the flick.

Story goes like this: Pete (Vartan) is a travel reporter on location in the Australian outback.
He takes a scenic river tour guided by Kate (Mitchell). Educationally, she seems to know what she's talking about and the tour is going along fine with its cast of random stereotypical characters on board (the asshole, the sickly mother, the mourning stranger, the annoying bickering couple, the token beer-guzzling locals and such).
Then some of the tourists think they saw a signal flare along the rocky cliffs at river's edge, so Kate goes to a secluded area of the river that is not part of the tour to see if someone is in distress. Turns out, it's them.

(Of course right here is where you stop and say wait a sec...)

But they proceed and end up stranding themselves on a tiny island of sorts along the river that is quickly being overtaken by the tide... as well as our friend the giant croc.
The remaining half of the movie has our heroes attempting to find a way to escape the wrath of the deadly killer.

The director pulls a Spielberg in that he doesn't show the crocodile until pretty far along into the film, and at one of those 'holy shit!' moments. Well done.
Some aspects are of course preposterous, but this IS a monster movie of sorts, right?

Basically it adheres to the notion that crocodiles are absolutely territorial and will defend their homes with a violence and cruelty like no other beast.
I couldn't help but think of the late Steve Irwin while watching this, and I tended to wonder if he'd ever come across a croc of this size. If so, I'm willing to bet a year's salary that he hasn't tackled it and tried to relocate it.
"Have a look at this little beauty!..... Isn't she just dahhhling?"
(Miss you, Steve.)

Rogue is not a gore-fest but should satisfy any horror fan with a hunger for a good monster flick.
The cinematography is fantastic, and shows the Northern Territory of Australia in all its stark wonder and natural beauty. It's like watching an R-rated National Geographic show, or perhaps 'Wild Kingdom' (I'm dating myself with that remark).

So I would have to recommend this movie as a must-see. It's so hard to find decent creature features that aren't bad enough to have a Mystery Science Theater dialogue added to it.
Check it out.

The Strangers

I've heard this movie: The Strangers, is based on true events.
Or at the very least, inspired by them.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I believe that, but I can believe it would happen, especially in this day and age.

The Strangers is a disturbing movie, and meant to be that way.
Everyone's seen the movie trailer, either in theaters or during a 30 second tv spot:

"why us?"
"because you were home..."

OY!
Now, I was expecting to truly be scared. I mean, as scared as I was at the end of the Blair Witch Project the very first time I saw it. Freaked.

I wasn't freaked.
But I was, I won't deny it, spooked.

James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) are headed to a family house in the country after a celebratory night that turned sour. Already, tempers are flaring and you can cut the tension with a knife.
Soon though, they tame things down a bit and they start to get their groove on in reconcilliation.

Then there comes a knock at the door.

Seeing as how it is just after 4 am, they cannot imagine who would be knocking at this late hour.
They answer the door, and there is a girl, half in shadow, who asks if Terri (or some other name, forgive me I forget) is home. When they answer no and the girl says 'Are you sure?', that should have been their first clue. I mean, who would say that? Yeah, I'm pretty sure!

Things go downhill from there.

Chilling scenes of these 'strangers' in various locations start: outside behind a tree, sitting on a swing, standing in the back of a room in the house un-noticed... all are terrifying in their own way. They all wear white masks, albeit different ones - as you can see below.



What do the strangers want?

Apparently just to at first tease and toy with, and then torment and terrify our couple.
And they do just that, until it escalates to a somewhat unexpected conclusion.

What is most disturbing about this film is that this can actually happen, at any time, to anyone, anywhere...

There is a french movie 'Ils' (aka 'Them') which I have seen and it is very similar in theme.

I blogged about it here.

I can't say I prefer the french 'version' of this story - they both have equally frightening segments. Liv Tyler is very believable and genuine, and Speedman is equally up to the task.

And it was scary - in a real life kind of way.

But I was still able to go out my front door and onto my porch and un-plug my halloween light-up pumpkin right afterwards, so make of that what you will...

Presumably in the old west?

I think this is my favorite. It has so much character!

Trick or treat?

This really looks like one of my old haunts.

Big place.
Nice yard.
I suppose they couldn't afford the upkeep.
Beautiful, though.

Somewhere in America's heartland, someone is crying.

This is one of my favorites. I love the 'round' room (turret).

I think this might be a painting, but I'll include it cause it was probably done from a real life place, I'm guessing.

Halloween fun

Check out my other blog for more of these friendly Halloween canines.



I think the 'parents' of these dogs need psychological counseling.
Seriously!

Another one that I think could definately be refurbished.