From my first viewing at one of my girlhood slumber parties, I have adored this movie. I suspect that Creepshow is actually a big part of the reason that I have such a love for anthologies. I could have made any number of different lists for this movie, but for today I am going with my three favourite moments. Everyone, of course, loves Ed Harris's crazy disco dancing:
And who doesn't enjoy Upson Pratt's cockroach comeuppance?
The following scenes are ones that give me that extra little pop of joy, for reasons that I can't really name. In order of appearance:
1. Nathan Grantham twists Sylvia's head completely around, and off, and then decorates it like a birthday cake.
2. Every time Wilma "Just call me Billie" screeches "Henry!" Poor Hal Holbrook, I would have fed her to the Crate Monster, too.
3. The final freeze on Richard's (Leslie Nielsen, whom I love) face at the end of "Something To Tide You Over."
It is the same in the Creepshow book:
Bonus: Mr. White and Upson Pratt's back-and-forth through the magnifying peephole.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Buffy (the vampire slayer), Katniss (Hunger Games), Hermione (Harry Potter), Michonne (The Walking Dead), Lisbeth (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Bella (Twilight) all lived in one house? No, me neither, but it sure is funny! There are currently 12 episodes, with additional outtakes and behind-the-scenes.
This man reenacts conversations that he's had with his 2 (and now 3) year old daughter, along with another fully grown man. It's a little creepy at first, but hysterically funny! There are currently 13 episodes, with outtakes and a Q & A with the two men.
Three senior women talk about all manner of things, and it's funny as hell. They have over 100 episodes, along with outtakes. This was the first video I ever saw from them:
This 2000 movie is pretty much Night of the Demons, only set in an old convent, and with a broad streak of humour, throughout. Featuring a stereotypical group of asshole college kids (complete with the nerdy pledge, and a lone goth girl thrown in for good measure) the delectable Adrienne Barbeau, and Coolio and Bill Moseley as the local law enforcement. This was 80 minutes of bloody good fun.
There will be SPOILERS in regards to some of the greater "gore" moments!
Yeah, I said "spoilers."
1. Adrienne Barbeau as the foul-mouthed, motorcycle riding, demon battling Christine.
Still smokin' at 55.
And her sweet stockpile of weapons:
Yes, she does have several nun/demon heads
hanging from her belt.
2. The gore was pretty good, and they definitely weren't shy with the fountains of fake blood. A couple of my favourites:
~A Maglite is jammed into a demon's mouth and out the back of her head. This was a laugh-out-loud moment for me.
Something about watching her flail around with this in her mouth
simply slayed me.
~The cheerleader gets her face peeled off.
I don't know about you....
....but a good face peel always leaves me feeling a little warm and fuzzy.
There were shotgun blasts a'plenty, a literal shower of blood, a dick chomp, and some eye trauma, as well. (The dvd extras showed some longer takes from the gore scenes, as well, which was kinda neat)
3. Dickie Boy and Saul, the "Satanists." I find myself unable to describe how awesomely dorky and hysterical these two were. Every moment they were on screen was a joy. This following clip is Saul's grand entrance, and grand it is.
I love everything about the movie Trick 'r Treat. I love this movie so much, and have watched it so often since my discovery of it, that Alaska began using the term "trick 'r treat" to mean "the ability to recite entire chunks of dialogue (if not the entire movie) from memory, due to repeated viewings." Example: "I can trick 'r treat the hell out of The Monster Squad. I've seen it over 200 times." Since I do love everything about this movie it was a little tough picking out just three things to make a list from, but I managed. And away we go-
1. Sam.
Adorable, deadly, and a wonderful icon of Halloween! I embraced Sam with the fervent love that I also give to Jason Voorhees. (Check out my Sam collection over at the Happy Haunted Sunshine House!)
2. The makers of this movie had a powerful love of practical effects. The CGI in this movie is actually used to enhance, not as a lazy convenience, and I am A-OK with that. Not only does this movie have one of the most realistic severed heads that I have ever seen in a movie:
But the werewolf transformation scene is one of my favourites of all time. I nearly went into a fit of ecstasy the first time that I saw the women tearing off their skins to reveal the wolf-fur underneath. Not to mention, the wolves themselves were pretty phenomenal.
Enjoy!
3. All the stuff going on in the background. It's easy enough to note the interlocking scenes, but multiple viewings had me noticing more and more. Some of my favourites are:
~ In the opening scenes with Emma and Henry, we see The Schoolbus Kids leaving Mr. Kreeg's house.
The Schoolbus Kids, far left.
~Some of the other werewolf girls picking up their dates.
L-R: Werewolf girl, werewolf girl, Emma in the coffee shop window.
~Laurie chatting up a soldier in the background as we leave the alleyway with The Man in Black.
The Man in Black, in the background, Laurie
~Mrs. Henderson with "Coach Taylor, in the hotdog costume" at the werewolf party at Sheep's Meadow. You don't see her face, but just look at the costume:
Mrs. Henderson, our "mature" werewolf. This is also where
we see Coach Taylor "buttfucking a pig."
Hard to get a good shot of this, but if you watch the scene you can see, even
without her face, that that is Mrs. Henderson's cat costume. Not to mention that is
definitely Coach Taylor, whom we saw earlier in the movie.
Bonus: The Blu Ray bonus footage contains some deleted scenes, one of which just cracks me up every time I decide to re-watch it. For starters, the wankers who play the trick on Rhonda are leaving Mrs. Henderson's house, comparing their gains, and Chip pulls this out of his bag:
That's no banana, it's a day-glo yellow vibrator.
A few moments later, Macy and Chip have this exchange, while standing in front of Rhonda's house:
Chip: "Is that Rhonda the retard?"
Macy: "She's not a retard, she's an idiot savant."
(That is the extent of the conversation that made it into the movie-it originally carried on)
Chip: "What the fuck's the difference?"
Macy: "Retards are as strong as apes."
Chip: "Really?"
Macy: "Tear your arms right off."
I laugh every time over the "tear your arms right off" bit. It's just such a kid thing to say, and I love it.
Bad Girls From Valley High is a surprisingly funny tale of revenge, with a twist or two. We have rapidly aging teen girls in adult diapers, senior citizen stereotypes, a hot foreign exchange student (who may, or may not, be a ghost) Janet Leigh (!) and a surprising take on the devil (although, really, it makes sense upon reflection) This is currently a watch instantly on Netflix.
1. Aaron Paul as a spastic dweeb. Hyperactive, annoying, with a crush on head bitch Danielle, and no one aside from Bad Girl #3, Brook, likes him (although borderline brain dead jock Gavin seems to tolerate him)
He looks like he should be hawking computers.
Alaska is a Breaking Bad fan, so I am used to seeing hardass, rough-around-the-edges, Jesse Pinkman up on the screen. Jonathan "Wart" Wharton is about as far from Jesse as one could get.
2. Mr. Chauncey (Christopher Lloyd, doing what he does best, which is play Christopher Lloyd on the big screen) gets the crap beaten out of him throughout the movie. A couple of my favourites were:
~Being tackled through a dressing room door and then being shit-kicked by the woman
he walked in on.
~Being accidentally closed up in the automatic bleachers by the volleyball coach.
~Attacked by a pack of Pomeranians while dressed as a clown.
He looks so much worse later on.
3. The ending. Everything comes full circle, questions are answered and, as mentioned, we get a glimpse of the devil. And it is awesome.
I love this movie with every fiber of my being, and I have since my first viewing at least 25 years ago. Even today I can throw it on and just enjoy the ride. Since I enjoyed doing my Then and Now: The Blob post so much, I figured I would do one for The Monster Squad, as well. (I keep reading about a Monster Squad remake, which I admit hurts my soul a little) Anyway, here are three things I loved about The Squad, then, and three things I (still) love about The Squad, today.
The Monsters
The Monster Squad
THEN:
1. Sean's "Stephen King Rules" t-shirt. From the moment that I first laid eyes on it, I coveted that shirt (being a King obsessed pre-teen myself)
About 5 or 6 years ago I ran across this t-shirt for sale on a website, and I bought one immediately. I wear it all the time around the house:
2. Patrick (Robby Kiger) Man, did I have the hots for Patrick.
I think that a big part of the reason that I crushed on Patrick, and not Sean, is because back then I wanted to be Sean: his awesome treehouse, a mom who bought him old journals from spooky houses (my mom was cool, but not that cool) and he could see (and hear, thanks to some set-up he had going on) the drive-in movies from the roof of his house (plus, he had that kick ass t-shirt!)
3. The Treehouse. That glorious treehouse! My brother and I had a treehouse, but it was just a wooden platform with railings, and I would have done almost anything to have a club house like the Monster Squad had. (On a side note, I always felt like I would have been welcomed into the Monster Squad, despite my lack of penis. I was certain that they would have been impressed by all of my monster knowledge)
There was one thing I noticed upon a recent viewing, though it's a blink too long and you miss it moment.
I noticed the white and blue spherical object stuck in the cinder block. I rewound this scene and paused it a few times, but could not get a clearer picture. But I know what I'm looking at:
Totally blurry, but no doubt in my mind that is an Oculus Orbus Madball! I know, because I own one (and did a post on it a while back)
Bonus- "Wolfman's got nards!" How can you not love a line like that?
NOW:
1. I love, love, that when The Squad realizes that they need a virgin to recite the ritual, everyone simply ignores that any one of these boys (minus Rudy, probably) are virgins and would fit the bill nicely! It just cracks me up.
2. Dracula's "bat penis."
Apparently, it does not matter how old I get, I still get a little giggle out of this scene.
3. The Army, the freaking Army, shows up in response to Eugene's letter.
This letter. The Army comes a'calling, locked and loaded, with tanks, because of this letter. Seriously, Army?
Bonus: This awesome montage. Still one of my favourites to this day.
This is another instant watch horror movie on Netflix, so I gave it a go. The plot was basically black market organ harvesting, a cheating fiance, murder, and then ghostly revenge. It wasn't a great movie, parts of the plot were confusing and I kept confusing some of the nurses, but it was definitely interesting, and the gore was over-the-top in places. So, there will be gore spoilers, as well as a mind-blowing spoiler moment in number 3. I can't say I would recommend this to many people, unless you happen to be a fan of weird Asian horror (which is a taste I myself have been cultivating for the last couple of years)
1. Weird/funny death scenes, most of which made me laugh out loud. In one scene, the ghost possesses a girl's hand, forcing her to grind a handful of razor blades into her mouth and lower face. This, somehow, completely removes the girl's lower jaw-
Like so...
-at which time the ghost hurls a kitten (yes, you read that right, a kitten) at the jaw-less woman, where it hits her in the bloody hole where her mouth was, before sliding down the jaw-less woman's throat and choking her to death.
One of many times I laughed myself into hiccups.
Another scene that got me was a nurse stumbling through the hallways with a purse over her head-
I don't believe I have ever seen a woman trapped
in a purse before.
When Nook (our "final girl") comes across Bag Head, she discovers that the bag has actually been sewn to the woman's neck.
I guess if you're a ghost you have sweet sewing skills.
Nook carefully snips the stitches, not only removing the bag from the girl's head, but, with the last stitch, also relieving the girl's head from her shoulders. Nook shrieks in horror as the head goes bouncing down the hall. (another laugh out loud moment) There were some other great deaths ("Hair cocoon!") but these two were hysterically funny, and probably my favourites.
2. Nook (Chidjan Rujiphun) who is pregnant, gets trapped in the stairwell by a horde of "zombie" nurses.
I say zombies, but they were just nurses with
backwards-turned wigs over their faces.
She panics, and screams, and then starts stabbing everything near her with her pregnancy test stick. Nook takes out a platoon of nurse-zombies with a pregnancy test stick! This was one of the most wonderful things I have seen in a movie, to date.
3. FINAL SCENE SPOILER!
The final moments of this movie simply blew my mind, as Nook falls screaming to the floor, and then gives birth to a fully grown adult. No shit.
This totally happens.
Who she gives birth to is very bizarre, as well, but I'll leave that for anyone who actually wants to watch this crazy-fest. If so, Happy Viewing!
