Horror Movie Month: The Omen

The Omen is a 1976 movie that spawned three sequels (and a remake that didn't need to be made) and is my favorite horror movie of all-time. It starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Spencer Stevens, Patrick Troughton, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, and Leo McKern. Diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) doesn't want to tell his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) that their baby died at birth, so at a shady priest's urging, he adopts the baby of a woman who died in childbirth; the child is named Damien, and strange things happen in his presence because he just so happens to be the Antichrist. At Damien's (Harvey Stephens) fifth birthday party, his nanny hangs herself after shouting, "It's all for you, Damien!"  Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton), who was there the night of Damien's birth, tries to warn Robert that Damien is not what he seems, but Robert refuses to listen because this is a horror movie. When Katherine takes Damien to a safari park, some animals run away from Damien, terrified, and others become violent, attacking the car Katherine and Damien are in. Kids scare me in general, but Damien is on a whole other level...he's such a little shit that he causes his mother to have a miscarriage after running his tricycle into her and knocking her over the upstairs railing; before Robert even knew that Katherine was pregnant, Father Brennan warned him that Damien would stop Katherine from having the baby.

I love The Omen, and watching the Omen Trilogy over a day or two inspired me to write my first Satan play...and now I've written almost twenty of them. Thanks, Damien!

My rating 10/10

Followed by:
Damien: Omen II
Omen III: The Final Conflict
Omen IV: The Awakening
The Omen (2006 remake)

Horror Movie Month: Final Destination

Final Destination is a 2000 movie directed by James Wong (who also wrote the screenplay, along with Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick) and starring Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kirsten Cloke, Tony Todd, Seann William Scott, Amanda Detmer, and Chad E. Donella. After boarding a plane to Paris for his senior trip, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a premonition about the plane exploding. He panics and gets kicked off the plane, along with a few of his fellow students, and they are horrified as they witness the plane explode during take-off. They're relieved to be alive, but soon realize that they're not off the hook...though they didn't die on the plane, Death is going to take them one way or another.

The idea that you can't cheat Death and that it will come after you until it gets you is a cool concept for a movie. I've seen all of the Final Destination movies, and they have some of the most creative deaths I've ever seen in movies, and after watching the first one again, I have no desire to get on a plane anytime soon. I really like Final Destination, and movies like this prove that the scariest villains are the ones you can't see.

My rating: 8/10

Followed by:
Final Destination 2
Final Destination 3
The Final Destination
Final Destination 5

Horror Movie Month: Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity is a 2009 found-footage movie written and directed by Oren Peli and starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, and Ashley Palmer. Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) move into a new house and soon begin experiencing paranormal activity (Hey, that's the name of the movie!) possibly caused by a demon that has been following Katie since childhood.

I first saw this movie not long after it came out on DVD, and I wasn't really scared while I was watching it, but I got scared afterward whenever I started thinking about it. For the first few nights after I saw it, I had a hard time falling asleep because I kept having thoughts like "What if the closet door just slides open by itself right now?" Most horror movies don't scare me at all since  the things I read about in the news every day are just as bad as the things that happen in these movies, but when I do get scared, it's usually because there's a ghost or demon involved. Paranormal Activity scared me more than most movies have because watching it feels like watching real people go through something awful.

My rating: 7.5/10

Followed by:

Paranormal Activity 2
Paranormal Activity 3
Paranormal Activity 4
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Horror Movie Month: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 movie directed by Jim Sharman (who co-wrote the screenplay with Richard O'Brien) and stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, and Nell Campbell. An engaged couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) breaks down in a storm and goes to a nearby castle to use the phone. They happen to show up during the Annual Transylvanian Convention, so they meet an interesting array of characters, led by Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry), a mad scientist/transvestite who is keeping a man he created in his labratory.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which was a stage show before it was a movie) is a fun movie, and though all of the actors were great, Tim Curry was the clear standout as Frank N. Furter, one of the most memorable movie characters of the past forty years. The songs are catchy, and whenever I watch the movie, "The Time Warp" ends up getting stuck in my head for a few days...it's a good song though, so I don't mind. : )

My rating: 8/10

Followed by:
Shock Treatment

Horror Movie Month: Re-Animator

Re-Animator is a 1985 movie directed by Stuart Gordon (who also wrote the screenplay, along with William J. Norris and Dennis Paoli) and starring Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, David Gale, and Robert Sampson. The movie was inspired by an H.P. Lovecraft story called "Herbert West-Reanimator." At New England's Miskatonic University, Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and his girlfriend Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton) are shocked when Dan's new housemate, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), uses a reanimating reagent to bring Dan's dead cat back to life. When Dan tells the dean (Robert Sampson) about Herbert reanimating the cat, Dr. Halsey doesn't believe him and bars Dan and Herbert from the school. Desperate to prove that the reagent works, Dan and Herbert sneak into the morgue to test it on a corpse, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Re-Animator is a fun movie that will definitely keep you entertained. If you don't like gory movies, you might want to skip it, but if you don't mind gore, Re-Animator might be something you'll really enjoy.

My rating: 7/10

Followed by:
Bride of Re-Animator
Beyond Re-Animator

Horror Movie Month: Creep

Creep is a 2014 found footage movie directed by Patrick Brice, who co-stars in the movie with Mark Duplass (the two also wrote the script together). When Josef (Mark Duplass) posts a Craigslist ad in search of someone willing to spend a day filming him, videographer Aaron (Patrick Brice) answers his ad. Josef tells Aaron that he only has a few months to live and wants to record some videos for his unborn son since he won't be around to see him grow up. The filming starts in the bathtub, and of course things get weirder from there.

I enjoyed this movie and thought both actors gave impressive performances. I mostly know Mark Duplass from The League and The Mindy Project, so I had no idea he'd be so good at playing such a creepy character, but Josef was so creepy that I found myself looking over my shoulder quite a few times to make sure no one was sneaking up behind me. I also loved the ending and am really looking forward to the sequel. Creep is a realistic, unsettling horror movie (and the realistic ones usually scare me the most), and Josef is a fascinating character. People like Josef really exist, and they might live next door or work in your building...and that's terrifying.

My rating: 8/10

Horror Movie Month: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a 2010 movie written and directed by Eli Craig and starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, and Jesse Moss. Hillbillies Tucker McGee (Alan Tudyk) and Dale Dobson (Tyler Labine) are mistaken for killers by a group of college students who are camping in the woods near Tucker's vacation home...the very woods where the Memorial Day Massacre took place twenty years earlier.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil has been in my Netflix queue forever, and I don't know what took me so long to watch it...I enjoy horror movies that are also comedies, and this one was really funny. I don't normally laugh when people die in movies, but the deaths in this movie are so funny and creative that I laughed at every one of them. I don't know how these kids got into college because they're pretty dumb...so dumb that a few of them accidentally kill themselves while trying to kill Tucker and Dale. All of the actors were great, and I'm happy that there's talk of a sequel...I would love to see Tucker and Dale in another movie. : )

My rating: 8/10

Horror Movie Month: Poltergeist (2015)

When I heard that a new Poltergeist movie was coming out this year, I knew I had to go see it. The trailer was pretty good, and I was sure I'd like it more than Poltergeist 2 and 3.  The 2015 version was directed by Gil Kenan and stars Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jared Harris, Jane Adams, Susan Heyward, and Nicholas Braun. This movie is about a different family than the one that was being tormented in the other Poltergeist movies, and I was glad that the little girl wasn't named Carol Anne in this one...after hearing that name more than 100 times in Poltergeist 3, I would be happy to never hear that name again. ; ) The Bowens are the ones being tormented this time around: father Eric (Sam Rockwell), mother Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt), teenage daughter Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), son Griffin (Kyle Catlett), and youngest daughter Madison (Kennedi Clements). When Madison is taken by evil spirits, the family must do everything in their power to bring her back, which includes enlisting the help of Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris), the host of a show called Haunted House Cleaners (note to networks: please make this a real show ASAP).

I'm not one of those irritating people who think that no movie should ever be remade and then spends way too much time complaining about it on the internet, so I really liked Poltergeist. I enjoyed every minute of it, and while I wouldn't necessarily say the movie scared me (the original didn't either), there were parts that really creeped me out, and I spent the whole movie feeling a sense of dread and anticipation about what would happen next. Each member of the cast gave a wonderful performance (especially Sam Rockwell and Kyle Catlett), and I liked the way the movie used technology that wasn't around when the original Poltergeist came out in 1982 (drones, cell phones, GPS, etc.).  If you don't like clowns, you probably won't see this movie in the first place since there's a terrifying clown on the movie poster, but if you're planning on seeing it anyway, just be warned that there are a bunch of them in the movie (if I'm remembering correctly though, only one of them really does much). (Horror movies: making people hate clowns since 1990.) If I moved into a new home and found a box of creepy-ass clown dolls in the closet, I'd be tempted to burn the house down. ; )

My rating: 8.5/10

Horror Movie Month: Stephen King's It

Stephen King's It (based on the 1986 novel) is a 1990 movie directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and starring Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Richard Masur, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Richard Thomas, and Tim Curry. Thirty years after seven kids fought back against an evil force that could take the form of a person's worst fear (though most often appeared in the form of Pennywise the clown), the group must reunite to battle it again.

Stephen King's It is a great made-for-TV movie and basically ruined clowns for everyone; I didn't think clowns were particularly funny as a child, but I didn't think they were scary until I saw Tim Curry as Pennywise. These days, it seems like most people think clowns are creepy, and scary clowns are a common sight in Halloween stores (I love decorating for Halloween, but my house is staying clown-free). Though It is longer than the movies I generally like to watch, I still enjoyed it because it's creepy and has great characters who are easy to care about.

My rating: 7.5/10

Horror Movie Month: The Exorcist

The Exorcist is a 1973 movie directed by William Friedkin and starring Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, and Jason Miller. It is based on a novel by William Peter Blatty. Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is concerned when she notices her 12-year-old daughter (Linda Blair) exhibiting strange behavior after playing with a Ouija board. Doctors can find nothing wrong with Regan, so Chris enlists the help of Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who agrees to perform an exorcism.

The Exorcist is considered by many to be the scariest movie ever made, and while it didn't scare me as much as I thought it would, I remember watching a DVD extra that talked about the real-life case that inspired the movie, and that scared the crap out of me. You can read about the case of Roland Doe here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_of_Roland_Doe

The Exorcist is a creepy movie, and I can see why it has scared so many people. All of the performances were great, and Linda Blair was incredible as young, possessed Regan...such an impressive performance for a 13-year-old. The version I watched this time was the theatrical version, but I watched a different version a few years ago that had a scene with Regan running down the stairs like a spider, and I thought it was creepier than anything in the original version of the movie. I have to say that Chris MacNeil is the most devoted mom ever...if I had been in her shoes, I would've been out the door after the whole "bed shaking and lifting off the floor" thing. I guess it's a good thing I'm never having kids. ; )

My rating: 8/10

Followed by:

Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist III
Exorcist: The Beginning

Horror Movie Month: Urban Legend

Urban Legend is a 1998 movie directed by Jamie Blanks and starring Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson, Loretta Devine, Tara Reid, Michael Rosenbaum, and Robert Englund. When someone begins committing murders inspired by urban legends, college student Natalie (Alicia Witt) must try to figure out why all of the victims have ties to her.

I loved this movie when it first came out and liked that they incorporated various urban legends into the deaths because it made this movie different from all of the other slasher movies. I do skip the part where they use the "dog in the microwave" urban legend though because I can't handle it when bad things happen to dogs. Urban Legend is an entertaining movie, and I thought the killer's motive made more sense than the motives in some other horror movies.

My rating: 7/10

Followed by:
Urban Legends: Final Cut
Urban Legends: Bloody Mary

Horror Movie Month: Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 movie (based on the 1979 musical by Stephen Sondheim) directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Jayne Wisener. In nineteenth century London, barber Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) murders his customers, then sends them through a trapdoor into a meat pie shop, where Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) bakes them into pies.

I love musicals, and Sweeney Todd is dark and twisted, so it was right up my alley. I liked the songs, and all of the actors gave wonderful performances...and even though Sweeney Todd is a murderer, I thought he was a likeable and sympathetic character. Pee-wee's Big Adventure is still my favorite Tim Burton movie, but Sweeney Todd is a close second.

My rating: 8/10

Horror Movie Month: Bad Milo!

Bad Milo! is a 2013 movie starring Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Mary Kay Place, Kumail Nanjiani, Toby Huss, Patrick Warburton, Stephen Root, and Peter Stormare.  Ken Marino (who is awesome in everything) stars as Duncan, a man who has been plagued with stomach problems for most of his life.  His doctor tells him to avoid stress, but Duncan's boss (the always hilarious Patrick Warburton) has other plans and puts him in charge of firing people.  Duncan soon discovers that a demon lives in him and comes out of his ass to kill people when Duncan is stressed out.

I really enjoyed Bad Milo!, and I'm so glad I got to see it.  All of the actors were great, and I thought that Milo was the cutest demon ever...he reminded me of Junior from Dinosaurs, but with razor-sharp teeth and a nasty smell (I'm assuming...he comes out of an ass, after all).  I recommend Bad Milo! to anyone who has a good sense of humor and isn't grossed-out by blood or ass demons. ; )

My rating: 8.5/10

Horror Movie Month: Diagnosis: Death

Diagnosis: Death is a 2009 movie written and directed by Jason Stutter and starring Raybon Kan (who co-wrote the script), Jessica Grace Smith, Suze Tye, Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement, and Rhys Darby. During an experimental drug trial, Andre Chang (Raybon Kan) and Juliet Reid (Jessica Grace Smith) begin having hallucinations about demonic spirits and a double murder that occurred in the facility. The building (which was an asylum before it was a cancer ward) is on lockdown, and they must find the truth in order to escape.

I watched this movie because I love Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement, and Rhys Darby, and even though Jemaine and Rhys didn't get much screentime, I ended up liking the whole movie. All of the actors were great, and the movie was funny...especially the two scenes Rhys appeared in. Comedy is my favorite genre, so I'm always happy to find funny horror movies.

My rating: 7.5/10

Horror Movie Month: The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead is a 1981 movie written and directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Hal Delrich, Betsy Baker, and Sarah York. Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), his sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) and two friends stay at a cabin in the woods during spring break. Instead of the fun night they'd been planning, they end up accidentally raising the dead  (I hate when that happens.) when they find a book called the Necronomicon (aka Book of the Dead) and must fight for their lives.

I first watched The Evil Dead about a year ago, but I wanted to watch it again before I see Evil Dead the Musical at the end of the month. It's a fun movie, and the special effects are pretty cool...especially considering that the movie was filmed in 1979 on a fairly small budget. I'm really excited to see the musical...I like the movie, and adding a bunch of songs will only make me like it more because I'm basically obsessed with musicals. ; )

My rating: 7.5/10

Followed by:

Evil Dead II
Army of Darkness

Horror Movie Month: Stage Fright

Stage Fright is a 2014 movie directed by Jerome Sable and starring Allie MacDonald, Minnie Driver, Meat Loaf, Douglas Smith, Brandon Uranowitz, and Melanie Leishman. Ten years after her actress mother (Minnie Driver) was murdered backstage after a production of The Haunting of the Opera, Camilla Swanson (Allie MacDonald) wins the lead role in a kabuki version of the same musical at theatre camp. However, someone is trying to put a stop to the production...by killing everyone.

I love horror movies and musical theatre, so of course I had to watch Stage Fright...and after seeing it, I just have to say, "Stage Fright, where have you been all my life?" I loved Stage Fright, and I really wish there were more musical horror movies. I laughed out loud quite a few times during the movie and thought the deaths were pretty creative (and I loved that the killer made a pun or two whenever he murdered someone). The music and performances were great, and that theatre camp looks super-fun when there are no murders happening. ; )

My rating: 8.5/10

Horror Movie Month: What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 mockumentary about vampires living together in New Zealand, and it stars Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham, Jackie Van Beek, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Rhys Darby.  I've been a huge fan of Jemaine Clement ever since I saw Flight of the Conchords on HBO's One Night Stand ten years ago (so if anyone's ever wondered why I've had hamsters named Bret, Jemaine, and Murray, now you know why), so I'd been excited to see this movie for awhile and was thrilled that I got to see it on the big screen.  Jemaine co-wrote and co-directed What We Do in the Shadows with Taika Waititi, and what a wonderful movie they've made!  What We Do in the Shadows is, without a doubt, the best vampire movie I've ever seen...every actor was perfect in his or her role, and the movie was hilarious. The scene involving 317-year-old Viago (Waititi) and his female victim is one of the funniest things I've ever seen, and I laugh just thinking about it.  I loved every second of the movie and would've been perfectly happy to stay in the theater and watch it again immediately (my theater didn't have this option though since they're only showing it once a day), so of course I bought What We Do in the Shadows the day it came out on DVD and watched it twice within the first few days I had it.

What We Do in the Shadows is the best movie I've seen this year, and I feel bad for anyone who hasn't seen it. Now that it's on DVD (and available to rent from Redbox), it shouldn't be too hard to find. You might not know it yet, but you need this movie in your life. ; )

My rating: 9/10

Horror Movie Month: House of 1000 Corpses

House of 1000 Corpses is a 2003 movie written and directed by Rob Zombie and starring Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Matthew McGrory, Sheri Moon Zombie, Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Chris Hardwick, Jennifer Jostyn, and Rainn Wilson. In 1977, the day before Halloween, Jerry Goldsmith (Chris Hardwick), Bill Hudley (Rainn Wilson), Mary Knowles (Jennifer Jostyn), and Denise Willis (Erin Daniels) are in search of strange roadside attractions for a book they're writing. After Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), owner of The Museum of Monsters and Mayhem, tells them the legend of Dr. Satan, they decide to find the tree where Dr. Satan was hanged. On the way, they pick up a hitchhiker (which of course ends up being a huge mistake since this is a horror movie) and are soon taken prisoner by her family.

House of 1000 Corpses is a brutal, yet entertaining movie, and the Fireflys are the most twisted family I've ever seen...they make the Manson Family look like the Brady Bunch. I'm a fan of Rainn Wilson and Chris Hardwick, so I liked seeing them in the movie even though I didn't like how their characters ended up.

My rating: 7.5/10

Followed by:

The Devil's Rejects

Horror Movie Month: Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is a 1980 movie directed by Sean S. Cunningham and starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Kevin Bacon, Jeannine Taylor, Mark Nelson, and Robbi Morgan. Camp Crystal Lake has been closed for years because of a drowning and two brutal murders that happened there. Twenty-one years later, the camp is being prepared for reopening, and the counselors are stalked by a killer who wants to make sure the camp stays closed forever.

I haven't seen most of the Friday 13th movies (only the first, second, and Freddy vs. Jason), but I liked the ones I've seen, so I'm going to try to watch all of the ones the local library has. I remember reading the Friday the 13th book series when I was younger (probably before I ever saw any of the movies) and really liking them, and I know I played a Friday the 13th Nintendo game too (Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, the Friday the 13th game is considered one of the worst Nintendo games of all time.)

My rating: 7.5/10

Followed by:

Friday the 13th Part II
Friday the 13th Part III
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Jason X
Freddy vs. Jason
Friday the 13th (2009 reboot)

Horror Movie Month: Zombieland

Zombieland is a 2009 movie directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, and Bill Murray. Two months after most of the American people have been turned into zombies, survivors "Columbus" (Jesse Eisenberg), "Tallahassee" (Woody Harrelson), "Wichita" (Emma Stone), and "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin) join forces to try to find a non-zombiefied place to live.

A little about the non-zombies of Zombieland:

"Columbus": has IBS and tons of phobias
"Tallahassee": obsessed with Twinkies and great at violently killing zombies
"Wichita" and "Little Rock": sisters and con artists
Bill Murray: awesome

I'm usually not that into zombie movies, but Zombieland is funny and has a cameo by Bill Murray, so it's my favorite of the zombie movies I've seen. Though the movie is a comedy, some of the zombies are pretty scary-looking...especially the clown zombie (of course).

My rating: 8/10