I’m crowding up the blogosphere this Halloween, but I can’t help sharing yet another interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” — this time, by the inimitable Christopher Walken.
Yes, he is known for having his voice made fun of, but I honestly think he does a nice job here.
See what you think:
Today’s the day! Grab “Fretensis (In The Image Of A Blind God Book 1),” by Dennis Villelmi, over at Amazon.com!
“The Last Exorcism Part 2” wasn’t quite as bad as everyone else said it was – I’d give it a 7 out of 10. Ashley Bell is a terrific actress, and many scenes were nice and creepy. I like stuff that’s a little more creative and interesting than standard slasher fare.
A few flaws stand out. The scene where she hovers above the bed is obviously wirework if we can see the actress swinging back and forth. It also boggles the mind that we see zero evidence of police involvement throughout the movie. This was still fun, though.
Happy Halloween, everybody!! Here’s a little something for your trick-or-treat bag — a little horror flash fiction entitled “There In The Bags.”
This was one of my entries into Microfiction Monday Magazine’s 100-Word Horror Story Challenge. It was rejected by the publisher, while two other of my submissions were selected. I still have a soft spot in my heart for this one, though, because it’s just a brainless little gory ghost story.
Enjoy. 🙂
*****
“There in the Bags.”
Us little people dump the bags in the hospital basement – not them six-figure docs.
The trick is not thinkin’ about what’s in ‘em. It’s tough. I mean … they’re bright red, and the big black letters say “MEDICAL WASTE.”
My co-worker Barry’s a jerk. Keeps laughing and reminding me what’s in there – placentas, blood, gangrened burn tissue … maybe even a severed arm. Barry jokes that maybe a departed soul from a dead man will get lost and wind up there in the bags. Try to come back.
I want Barry here, now. God, I do.
One bag just moved.
Burn victim? Zombie? Guy at the zoo at whom the monkeys accurately threw their feces?!
Anyway, this is me, circa … 1989 or so, at a Halloween party at Carrie Schor’s house (then Carrie Harbach) in Lake Panamoka, New York. Carrie always did throw the funnest parties at her house.
I lament this picture a bit because, as a child, I had a veritable FLAIR for Halloween costumes — you should have seen my incredible homemade Ghostbusters costume in 1985. It was the toast of Lake Panamoka.
But the makeup job depicted above just speaks of minimal effort.
The young lady pictured is Julianne Whitehead, another Longwood High School Alum, a great old friend, and one of the coolest girls I have ever been privileged to know.
Thanks for the photo, Carrie!!
Keep kicking ass, Sweden.
It would be great if someone with expertise in international relations could explain to me at exactly what point in time Russia went INSANE.
You see this poster for “Halloween II” (1981)? This is more entertaining than the actual movie. Haddonfield, IL is a pretty boring town, and the introduction of a serial killer doesn’t much change that.
My fellow horror fans might stone me for that kind of blasphemy. But one of my deep, dark secrets is that I’m often underwhelmed by classic horror films. This film picks up at the same moment of the same night as the original “Halloween” (1978) – which was itself, upon revisiting, thinly plotted and quite slow. Why not make them the same movie?
I’d give this film a 2 out of 10 for a creepy premise and one scary sequence involving a hot tub. I think that’s probably generous.
No Halloween would be complete without James Earl Jones reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”
That would be like Christmas without the tree, wouldn’t it?
Click here:
… from a house in my neighborhood. Each tombstone has a fresh plot of dirt beside it. 😀
Damn it, “Grave Encounters” (2011) was very good horror movie for its first half. Sure, it was unoriginal, borrowing heavily from everything from “Paranormal Activity” to “[REC].” But it was still good – I’m the kind of guy that says that horror movies actually DON’T have to reinvent the wheel to scare us.
It had a decent setup and a great location – I don’t know what that old building was, but it was perfect. And for a while, it was a great “haunted house” story. I especially liked the first big scare, even if it’s something we’ve seen before, as well as the part where a chained door, once penetrated, shows us something unexpected. I was genuinely spooked.
Then it just disintegrated towards the end. The “scares” were so cartoonish and over the top that any suspension of disbelief was lost. This seemed more like an especially ambitious “haunted house” Halloween attraction, and less like a professionally made film.
I can only give this a 5 out of 10 after it fell apart the way it did. Oh, well. You’ve got to give the filmmakers an “E” for effort.
Question – does Hollywood hate documentary filmmakers? It seems every time I see a movie like this – like “The Blair Witch Project,” or “Diary of the Dead,” – the person in charge is a cheesy, melodramatic, self-absorbed quasi-intellectual who puts everyone else at risk. Why is that?
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 