Movie Spotlight: Dead Silence

Dead Silence is a 2007 movie starring Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, and Judith Roberts.  The movie begins with newlywed Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) receiving a ventriloquist's dummy from an anonymous source.  Jamie leaves to pick up dinner, and when he returns, he finds his wife (Laura Regan) dead--murdered by Billy the evil dummy.  (You left your wife alone with a creepy ventriloquist's dummy?  Don't you know you're in a horror movie?!) Detective Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg), the cop in charge of the case, thinks that Jamie is responsible for Lisa's death and is determined to prove it. (It should be noted that Detective Lipton is a straight-up weirdo who takes his electric razor everywhere and shaves at really inappropriate times.)  Jamie returns to his hometown to bury Lisa and find out the truth about Billy the dummy.

The movie was directed by James Wan, who also directed The Conjuring and Insidious, and while Dead Silence was not nearly as well-done or as scary as those movies, it was better than I expected a movie featuring ventriloquist dummies to be.  All of the actors were very good, and the filmmakers managed to avoid making the dummies look cheesy while they were threatening or murdering people (which probably isn't easy to do).

My rating: 6.5/10

My thoughts on the upcoming Ghostbusters movie

Paul Feig recently announced his plans to make a new Ghostbusters movie starring hilarious women, and as a woman who writes comedy, of course I love the idea.  I seem to be in the minority though, and seeing all of the online comments from people claiming that this movie will ruin the franchise (as well as their childhoods) just makes me roll my eyes.  If you don't like it, don't watch it...the existence of this movie isn't going to take away from the greatness of the original Ghostbusters movies.  Those movies will still be the same movies; they're not going to change at all.  I don't like The Omen remake (The Omen II, III, and IV aren't great either), but that doesn't change my feelings about the original at all, and The Omen is still my favorite horror movie.  And to the guy who said that there's no such thing as hilarious women: you're obnoxious, sexist, and need to watch more comedy.  I can think of a bunch of hilarious women: Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Maria Bamford, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Schumer, Kaitlin Olsen, Kristen Wiig, Wanda Sykes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (do I need to keep going?).

I'm excited about this movie-I've seen a lot of things that Paul Feig has been involved with (Bridesmaid, The Heat, Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Arrested Development, etc.) and I've enjoyed all of them, so I don't understand why so many people are just assuming the movie is going to be awful (though it's rare to see people actually saying something nice on the internet, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised).  Also, screenwriter Katie Dippold has written for Parks and Recreation, one of the best shows on TV the past few years, and that gives me high hopes for the movie.  Some people are saying that if you're a true fan of Ghostbusters, you can't support the reboot, but that's bullshit.  If you're a fan of Ghostbusters, why wouldn't you want to see more of it...or at least give it a chance instead of bitching about it and saying it will fail the second it's announced?  I'll probably see this movie opening weekend, and maybe I'll even wear my homemade Ghostbusters costume...because despite how most of the whiners on the internet feel, women can be Ghostbusters.

Mark your calendars for AtomaCon!

AtomaCon (All Types of Media Arts Convention) is a fairly new convention, and it takes place November 14th-16th at the Charleston Plaza Hotel  (4770 Goer Drive) in North Charleston, SC.  Last year I didn't find out about Atomacon until two days before it began, so I only went the last day and attended the Ghost Hunting Tech panel (http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-you-want-to-be-ghost-hunter.html).  This year I'm prepared...I bought my three-day pass back in December and am planning on attending a bunch of panels and writing about them for the blog.  I'm especially excited about the Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Meetup...I'm dressing up as a Ghostbuster for Halloween, so this will give me another excuse to wear my costume! If you're a fan of Star Wars, Dr. Who, Sherlock, The Walking Dead, Godzilla, Lost, or Star Trek, or if you'd like to learn more about ghost hunting, Charleston's haunted history, cosplay, building props, designing video games, or searching for Bigfoot, there's something at AtomaCon for you!  Check out the AtomaCon website for more information:

http://www.atomacon.org/

Carrie the Musical

My husband and I are taking a trip to Wilmington, NC for our anniversary in a few weeks, and we're going to see Carrie the musical while we're there!  Carrie the musical is based on the Stephen King novel about a telekinetic teenager, and it's being performed by City Stage Co. October 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 31st and November 1st and 2nd.  If you live in or near Wilmington, and this sounds like something you'd like to see, email your name, phone number, date you'd like to attend, number of tickets, and which seats you'd like (you can find the seating chart here: http://www.citystageco.com/come-see-show/) to CityStageCoReservations@gmail.com or call 910-342-0272 to make your reservation.  Tickets cost $20-$25 or $18 for students, teachers, and military, and the theatre is located at 21 N. Front St. #501. I love musicals, and I also love Stephen King, so I'm really excited to see Carrie the musical. : )

http://www.citystageco.com/city-stage-co-shows/carrie-2014/

Halloween Display 2014

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I usually start decorating in early September.  Here are some pictures of this year's Halloween display. : )

The Paranormal Works of Stephen King

Since it's finally October, I thought I'd do a blog post about the world's most popular horror author: Stephen King.  I've read almost everything he's written, and many of his novels have a paranormal/ supernatural element, so I've compiled a list of his paranormal works and included a link to each novel's Amazon listing.

1. Carrie (1974)



2. Salem's Lot (1975)



3. The Shining (1977)



4. The Dead Zone (1979)



5. Firestarter (1980)



6. Christine (1983)



7. Pet Sematary (1983)



8. Cycle of the Werewolf (1983)



9. It (1986)



10. The Tommyknockers (1987)



11. The Green Mile (1996)



12. Storm of the Century (1999)



13. Dreamcatcher (2001)



14. From a Buick 8 (2002)



15. Under the Dome (2009)



16. Doctor Sleep (2013)

Boone Hall Fright Nights

If you live in the Charleston, SC area, you might be interested in Boone Hall Fright Nights, which takes place at Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant and runs from September 26th through November 1st.  Boone Hall Fright Nights offers four scary attractions this year: Frightmare Factory, Twisted Terror in 3D, Wicked Woods Hayride, and Zombie Town Bloodfest. (You can find a description of each attraction on their website.)  Tickets are $12 for the Wicked Woods Hayride, $10 for Frightmare Factory, $10 for Zombie Town Bloodfest, and $8 for Twisted Terror in 3D, or you can buy a pass that gets you into every attraction for $27.

http://www.boonehallfrightnights.com/