6 posts tagged “halloween”
It's not a very scary film (I always watch it as a love story), but here is my favorite scene from "Bram Stoker's Dracula" just in time for Halloween ...
This movie is hated by many, but I love the romantic side to the story, and the score is great. I own the soundtrack, and I think it stands on its own. The line, "Take me away from all this death!", is one I sometimes think of when there are too many things going on around me, and I just want everything to stop.
In other news, a person from this blog slowed down M.I.A.'s song "Shells" (which you can download from iTunes now) so that is doesn't sound so "Alvin and the Chipmunks" anymore. Here is the slowed down version, which I kind of like ...
M.I.A. - Shells (slowed down version)
Every once in a while a memory of a movie will resurface, and I will do my best to research it through YouTube, IMDB, Netflix, torrents, etc. Well, this happened recently with the 80s movie, "T.A.G. - The Assassination Game". This is the only video I could find on YouTube about this movie ...
I remember watching this movie as a kid, and I also remember getting it mixed up with "Gotcha!", starring Anthony Edwards and Linda Fiorentino. I think "Gotcha!" did a lot better at the box office, and there are tons of videos and information on the internet about it.
There is hardly any information on T.A.G., and I think it is a much better movie. It definitely has tons of pop culture embedded in it. Linda Hamilton, Robert Carradine, Michael Winslow, and Xander Berkeley (brief role) star in it. Everyone knows who Linda Hamilton is. Robert Carradine was a nerd with, coincidentally enough, Anthony Edwards, in "Revenge of the Nerds". Michael Winslow was the cop who made all the cool sound effects with his mouth in the Police Academy movies (he was also in Spaceballs, and a recent GEICO commercial). Xander Berkeley is only in the beginning of the movie. He was Virginia Madsen's character's cheating husband in "Candyman". He gets his comeuppance at the end of that movie. He also starred in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (small role), which could be described as Linda Hamilton's biggest movie ever (especially since she got all that press for developing her arm muscles).
The director of T.A.G.-The Assassination Game is Nick Catle (his famous father's name is Nick Castle, too). Nick Castle worked a lot with John Carpernter (who wrote the movie, "Black Moon Rising", starring Linda Hamilton). Nick Castle has directed a lot of well known movies, such as "The Last Starfighter", which is being remade for 2010. However, the most interesting fact about Nick Castle's career is that he is "The Shape" in Halloween, meaning he is the one in the William Shatner/Captain Kirk mask, walking around killing people in the movie. He is not the guy playing Michael Myers when Jamie Lee Curtis pulls off the mask ... that is Tony Moran.
OK, with all that history, here is the beginning of T.A.G. - The Assassination Game (the beginning is good, but the title sequence is so cheesy, like a TV movie) ...
I will probably post another scene later today. This is another cool movie that is not available on DVD. I always find that very annoying.
Edit ... here is another scene where the killer in the movie takes the game way too far ...
I go walking with a co-worker/friend of mine after work sometimes, and it can get really dark in some of the areas of the neighborhood we walk through. I always start bringing up horror movies when we are walking because my active imagination makes me think a crazed killer is about to jump out of the bushes.
Anyway, here are some horror movies discussed during a recent walk ...
I think I have actually seen this movie, but I am not sure. There is something about it that seems so familiar. It looks pretty cheesy and great at the same time. My friend told me about this movie.
I remember watching this movie when I was pretty young. The gas mask (is that what you call it?) that the killer wears is pretty creepy. I remember this movie actually being OK.
Fright Night (1985)
Most people have seen "Fright Night" (if you haven't, then you cannot consider yourself a true horror fan ... or at least a true cheesy horror fan), but my walking friend had not seen it so I had to explain to her the pop culture significance of this movie. Amanda Bearse played Marcy D'Arcy, the annoying neighbor on "Married With Children". She plays a "teenager" in "Fright Night" who is seduced by Chris Sarandon (who was married to Susan Sarandon in the 70s), the head vampire. The great part of this movie is the transformation of Amanda Bearse from a geeky high school girl into a sexy "half-vampire" with a huge set of teeth. I didn't find a clip of the scene, but it's very funny to see how large her mouth has grown at the end of the movie.
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
John Carpenter, who directed tons of great movies like Halloween, did this movie, starring Sam Neil. I have not seen the movie, but my friend told me there is some scene where a couple keeps passing a boy on a bike with a playing card or something like that. She brought it up because while we were walking, we kept seeing the same guy pop up ahead of us ... as if out of nowhere.
Grandma's House
Another friend of mine told me about "Grandma's House" a long time ago. I have never heard of it from anyone or anywhere else so I did a Google search on it and found it on IMDB.com, too. There was a not a YouTube video of the trailer, but there was a trailer at this videodetective.com site. It doesn't look that scary, but I feel like it would be scary to watch as a little kid maybe like my friend had.
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween is probably one of the best known horror movies. It was even featured in the movie, "Scream", which was like a class on horror movies. However, it is amazing how many people haven't seen Halloween because they are scared to watch horror movies. It's also surprising how many people have only seen part one and not part two of Halloween. Part two finishes off the night that part one began. What's funny about the movie is that it is a direct continuation of the last scene in part one, yet it was filmed a couple of years later.
Anyway, I am always surprised that people are too scared to watch horror movies. I just look at horror movies as adrenaline rushes like roller coasters. I am not talking about the gore fest horror movies that are out there ... I am talking about the person being chased by a killer movies ... where the victim actually has a good chance of getting away, but they usually do something stupid. I think people should watch horror movies purely for the cathartic aspect of the movie.
I finished watching Rob Zombie's version of "Halloween" today, and I thought it was awful. I don't know what style Rob Zombie wants to be known for in his three movies ("House of 1000 Corpses", "The Devil's Rejects", and the most recent "Halloween") because they are pretty crappy. "House of 1000 Corpses" had some interesting moments, and when young Michael Myers kills the bully in the woods in "Halloween", there is a swirling shot of the overhead tree limbs that is kind of cool. Also, "House of 1000 Corpses" had a great soundtrack. The title song was really good, and it was used well in the movie.
I may be too hard on his version because I liked the original version so much. The original version still seems pretty modern to me, and adding more gore to a movie never improves it.
The song "Mr. Sandman" was played in Halloween II, and it was played in Rob Zombie's version, too. However, the version used in Rob Zombie's movie was a more recent one by Nan Vernon.
Here it is ...
Nan Vernon - Mr. Sandman
The only other thing I liked about Zombie's version of "Halloween" was his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, who I think could be a good actress if she tried a little harder (and worked with other directors). She's got a look that reminds me of Elisabeth Shue and Robin Wright Penn sometimes.
No, I am not talking about this cheesy 1981 movie ...
but I am talking about the day after Friday the 13th. I feel like posting some scary music in honor of Friday the 13th, even if I am a day late.
Friday the 13th - Main Theme (composed by Harry Manfredini)
A Nightmare On Elm Street - main theme - by Charles Bernstein (I had a version where Freddy would say "Tina", but I can't find that one)
Laurie's Theme from Halloween by John Carpenter (my favorite movie, my favorite soundtrack) ...
edit ... ok, it sounds like something is wrong with this version of Laurie's Theme(I can't find the good one I had before). Therefore, here are two more versions ... one is #9 from the Halloween Soundtrack called "Laurie Knows" and the other one is "Laurie's Theme" from Halloween II (where she is in the hospital the whole time).
Halloween - Laurie Knows
Halloween II - Laurie's Theme
I have been wanting to listen to my Benny Benassi(Hypnotica) CD lately. My favorite song on the album is "Love Is Gonna Save Us". The song is romantic and sad at the same time, and it has this part that I call the "wind" part that is just perfect. For some reason, I thought the song would fit with the movie, "Edward Scissorhands".
My second favorite song on the album is probably "Time", and I thought a scene from the 1980 Christopher Reeve movie, " Somewhere in Time", could best sum up the concept of time(his best movie besides the first Superman).
While I was searching for my Benny Benassi CD, I came across one of my Tarkan CDs, and I thought, "Oh, I need to revisit Tarkan". Therefore, to be completely random, here are my three favorite songs from Turkey's own Tarkan(from his self-titled album) ...
Tarkan - Simarik
Tarkan - Ölürüm Sana
and Tarkan - Sikidim (Hepsi Senin Mi?)
Finally, here is a short clip of what XR2 is supposed to sound like on M.I.A.'s next album, Kala. I don't know how correct this is, but the quality sounds better than all the other versions that I have of XR2 ...
That is the fake cover of Kala that some fan made, and I got it from http://miafans.co.uk, of course.
Here is an image of M.I.A. on the cover of URB that I also got from that message board ...
Oh wait, I thought of one more thing ...
I really hope Rob Zombie's version of Halloween(probably my favorite movie ... ever ... ok, one of many I guess) turns out to be good.
