Monday 20 June 2011

Horror - Name That Film Take 22

Back to the normal easier quiz now, after last time's whitewash - I apologise if it was just too hard, but I had to win once, didn't I?
So, for the benefit of anyone new joining the team, here's how it goes; 3 movies, you name them, you move up the leaderboard.  Simple.  At some point I'll think of a prize to give away to the top couple of horror experts, after 50 quizes, or on my 1 year blogging anniverary or something.  It's all rather vague , isn't it!
For now, enjoy the quiz, and show everyone who's got the best horror knowlege.

Easy...
Medium...
 Hard...

Good luck.

Friday 17 June 2011

Horror - Eaters

So, the plan was to sit down and enjoy a romantic evenings viewing with my wife.  So on went Eaters...
Despite the dreaded name Uwe Boll being bandied about at the begining (I dont think he had anything to do with the actual making of this), I was really looking forward to this.
Unfortunately, after 10 minutes I could see my wife in my peripheral vision growing twitchy and bored, and so Eaters was sacrificed and instead we settled on Burke & Hare.
John Landis?  Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis?  Doing an Ealing comedy?  And about body-snatching too.  This should be fantastic I thought to myself.  It's a who's-who of British comedy and acting talent, with lamentable Scottish accents thrown in for good measure, that seems to fall short.
There are some fairly funny moments, and some cracking performances - Tim Curry and Tom Wilkinson spark off each other brilliantly - but I found the movie as a whole didn't really gel for me.  The romantic sub-plot seemed tacked on and none of it was laugh-out loud funny.
People I've spoken to, who have watched it, have said they had enjoyed it, so maybe it's just me, but I was hoping for so much more from this.
Never mind, I'll shall watch Eaters on my own today when everyone goes out.

Thursday 16 June 2011

Horror - Straw Poll


Right a serious one this time, I want your opinions.
My 8 year old son keeps asking to watch my DVDs.  You know the ones.  The ones with 18 or R on the spine, and I keep saying  "When you're older"
Now I know there's certain films, that I'll no way let him watch yet, but then again there's certain films that I'm sure I watched when I was around his age.
I first watched An American Werewolf on pirate video when I was around 10, and I remember creeping downstairs and sitting on the cold hall floor watching Salem's Lot through a crack in the door when I was 9.
Obviously, these movies terrified me, but also instilled in me a lifelong love of horror.
He has already watched some early black&white Hammers (Quatermass etc.), and a few B monster movies. but nothing scary.
The question is, how much is too  much too young?  I don't want to scar him, or give give lifelong nightmares or neurosis' that he'll never get over (I'm not a total monster).  But then again I don't want him  to come to films too late to get a passion for them - a passion that can only be gotten by watching movies early on in life.
I know he's not ready for The Thing, but maybe he is for Jaws?
No to Hostel, but maybe yes to The Monster Squad?

I know it's all subjective.  What you may let your child watch, I wouldn't and vice-versa.  But I'm hoping to get a few replies here (whether you have children or not) on what you feel is appropriate viewing for an 8 year old - and don't say 'I'd let him watch A Serbian Film', I want serious answers.
I'm not asking for parenting advice, just interested in people's opiinions.

Bear in mind, this is the boy who's pestering me for this to put on a leash and answer the door with on Hallowe'en!

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Horror - Zombie Model

Well, it was suggested (or rather challenged) by Johnny Zombie , after my Psycho Mansion model to make a zombie apocalypse model.
So, off I duly went and started...
It is no-where near finished, I'm forever tweaking it and moving the severed limbs around,
and I still need to add more gravestones and several trees, and maybe a farmhouse with people barricaded inside,
but it's on it's way.  My little boy had great fun choosing which zombie should have an arm or leg chewed off, or where an arm should be clawing out of the ground.
So, message me when you've made yours (that means you too Johnny - found your camera yet?), that's right I want to see your models/dioramas/hallowe'en props whatever, and I'll come over and take a look.

Next one for us is this little beauty....




Friday 3 June 2011

Horror - Name That Film Take 21

Well, thanks to certain people being to darn good at this quiz business, I have brought this edition ahead one week, for another Extra Hard Name That Film.
Don't worry if you don't know them (my collection has some pretty obscure titles in it) just have a guess.
And if you do know them and this goes within the usual 24 hours, I may just cry.
Hard #1...
Hard #2...
Hard #3...
Good luck, you bunch of deviants.


Thursday 2 June 2011

Horror - Forklift Safety Instructions

A friend has passed on this video to me detailing the correct safety procedures for a forklift truck operator.
So what? I hear you say.  Well, this video - apart from being fairly amusing - has better gory special effects than most of the low-budget crap that is coming out these days.
So sit back, and learn how inadvertantly execute all of your work colleagues with Klaus.  The Tit.

Horror - Stake Land

Tonight, I opened a bottle and sat down to watch Stake Land.  A post-apocalyptic vampire thriller, that reminded me of a mix of Zombieland (minus the jokes), The Road and Near Dark.
In a world that has been overrun by a vampire epidemic, a rogue hunter named simply Mister, takes an orphaned boy on a road trip to New Eden - a town in Canada that is rumoured to be 'vamp free'.  On the way they meet an assortment of rag-tag characters including 'Plucky Teen Girl Who Takes No Crap',  'Am I The Only Black Guy To Survive This Shit?' and 'I May Be An Elderly Nun But I Was Once The Romantic Lead In Top Gun You Know!'  Yes, that is Kelly McGillis! 

It has a bleak atmosphere that runs throughout the film, as though the futility of carrying on surviving is simply not worth the effort.  That's a good thing.  There's no shoe-gazing moody teens that you want to slap.  There's no sexy vamps with perfect bodies.  And there certainly seems as though there's no redemption for any of the characters seeking it.  Everyone seems to know what is unspoken - that they're all screwed - but they are simply 'getting on with things'.
Which, all in all, made this movie a refreshing change from the toothless vampire flicks that seem to be the accepted norm these days.

Some damn fine DVDs

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A random blog of anything horror based that catches my good eye. Find me digging up corpses on Twitter http://twitter.com/Doctor_Cyclops