#64 Better Off Dead - 1985

It is 80's week for me as I enter into my tenth week for my movie marathon. Its crazy to think that for the past 9 weeks I have watched 63 movies and blogged about each and every one. Craziness I tell you. This week is going to be a fun one! I have lots of favorite's in this bunch of films and I'm looking forward to each and every one. This could be called "ahhh the memories" week because all of these films remind me of something way back when I first saw it back in the 80's. I was somewhere between 10 and 13 most likely when I first saw these films so that is quite awhile ago. My first choice this week, Better Off Dead. Below is my detailed review.

This film had some interesting characters and although there were not any real big name actors in this film besides one the cast was great and very funny. John Cusak plays the role of the main character Lane Meyer. His father Al is played by David Stiers. His best friend is Charles De Mar is played by Curtis Armstrong who is famously known for his role of Booger in Revenge of the Nerds. Monique the foreign exchange student is played by Diane Franklin and she to me looks a little like Ginnifer Goodwin. Beth plays Lane's initial love interest and you might recognize her from being the first victim of Freddy Krueger in a Nightmare on Elm Street. Aaron Dozier stars as Roy Stalin, the movie villain and jerk and in a quite comical role Dan Schneider stars as Ricky Smith, Lanes neighbor. All in all the cast was great for this film.


I remember first seeing this film with my Grandma when at their place when I was younger. I remember her thinking it was really funny and I enjoyed it as well but now to think back it just kind of makes me smile to think we watched this one together. I also remember seeing Places in the Heart with her too but this one and that one couldn't be more polar opposites of each other and anyone who has seen them knows that. Ok enough about that and on to the movie.

Let me first start with this. I enjoyed this movie however not quite as much as I remembered and I cannot explain why. It had some very funny scenes throughout and interesting characters but maybe it was the story that was a bit much for me? I don't know? In any matter here is a short version of what that story was. Guy (Lane) is obsessed with girl (Beth) but girl falls for Ski Hunk (Roy). Guy kind of wants to kill self and tries but not really then has a sparked interest in the foreign exchange student who is living across the street for the summer. Guy's family is weird especially his mom and brother and he has a hilarious nerd friend, emphasis on the word "nerd". Guy eventually defeats Ski Hunk in a skiing competition and story ends up happily ever after with plenty of subplots throughout. There is your basic condensed version.


As I stated before this film had some very funny moments and below Ill list some of my favorites. Lets start with the father in general. I love his dry humor throughout the film. My favorite scenes with him was obviously the first scene of the film with him coming out front in a nightgown, yes I said nightgown to make sure to raise his garage door so the paperboy doesn't break anymore windows on it. Very funny scene to start the film. The brother in this film named Badger never speaks a word but is always cutting coupons and sending in for prizes. I like how he cuts the coupons off the cereal boxes before they are finished. Too funny.


Two of the funnier characters in this film were the two Asian brothers in the orange car that raced Lane. I love the comment that one never learned English but the other only learned it by listening to sports broadcasting by Howard Cosell, awesome. All the scenes with them are great especially the one where they along with their girlfriends all put on their "racing" helmets. haha. The scenes with Ricky were quite comical as well especially the one where he dances and the first time he meets Monique. I mean is there somewhere I can purchase those pants? Unbelievable and almost impossible not to laugh. If the pants don't make you laugh the Christmas present of an 8X10 self portrait of himself sure will. Very funny character.

The scenes with Roy were more annoying than anything else but I gotta admit he made you hate the character as all great villains and bad guys do (i.e.: Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds, etc). Typical blonde haired jock type bully in an 80's film. Beth on the other hand thought she was too cool for school and her character actually bugged me a little bit. I thought they could have picked someone prettier for that part personally but maybe she got it around the same time she got the role of the first victim in Nightmare on Elm Street? In a funny reference to the Elm Street flick one of Roy's friend is wearing the same sweater made famous by Freddy at the dance while walking right behind Beth, funny little reference to the horror classic there.


I thought Charles De Mar was hilarious in this movie especially when he laughed uncontrollably at Roy at the dance. This guy definitely has a contagious laugh and his little comments throughout were funny as well. My favorites were, "c'mon little trooper:", "buck up little camper", and the one at the end where he says Lane is the hottest thing since sideburns!! Elvis would be so proud. I loved all the horrendous and quite scary food scenes after mother Meyer cooked up some pretty hideous looking dishes, one that even moved off Lane's plate and crawled away. This is the same mom who wrapped up countless microwavable dinners as Christmas Presents and dressed up like a reindeer, oh the horror!

Some other cool scenes were the one where Lane's drawing comes to life in the cafeteria and also when the claymation hamburger dances and rocks out to "everybody wants some" while Lane is daydreaming while working. I love the mad scientist look and feel of that particular scene. Another funny scene with Lane was the qtip scene where he stuck qtips in his ears, nostrils, and mouth as I guess some sort of experiment? Not sure why but it was funny looking. The music in that scene was dull though however the song "Better Off Dead" that was performed at the dance was very catchy! Loved that song. Speaking of music I thought the song playing when Monique and Lane fixed up his camero was quite corny but had that total 80's feel so I guess it was ok. haha.


Speaking of Monique I thought she was adorable in this film. She had a go get him attitude and was a tomboy of sorts but looked quite cute in her ski outfit and when they went out to dinner. I am glad that she ended up being Lane's love interest in the film. Now I'm not sure which one came out first this film or Teen Wolf but the endings in these film almost paralleled each other. Underdog wins sporting event, the popular blonde girl wants the underdog but the underdog goes with the cute dark haired girl in the end. Love it love it love it. I also liked the final sword (with ski's) battle at the end between Lane and Ricky with the music that sounds strikingly similar to the theme song music for the WWF back in the 80's. The ending for this film was great with Lane and Monique sitting on his camero at home plate in Dodger Stadium. Technically that was not the real ending because Badger had built a spaceship which yes, tore through the roof of his Dad's beloved garage and took off into space. Whether or not Badger was in the space ship was something I guess we will all just have to wonder about and never really know. Do we really care though?? All in all I thought this film had plenty of funny scenes to make it a worthwhile view however it wasn't as great as I remembered. Still good enough for me to give it a B-!

#63 - The Shining - 1980 *LIVE BLOG*

In this my 7th and final movie of "even more Horror" week and my 63rd movie overall I am doing something a little different. I am writing this blog as a "live blog". Basically what that means is that I am typing this blog at the same time I am watching the film. This is the 1st time I have done this and I actually enjoy it and may do this a couple more times within this movie marathon. It keeps scenes and specific parts in the movie fresh in my mind and I like that. Below is my detailed review.

Another older movie and another one done in 1980, 30 years ago so this week definitely had some oldies in it. The beginning of this film starts out with some very scenic views of Jack Torrance driving his car up to the mountains to the Overlook Hotel. This hotel is set in the mountainous range in Colorado and is quite secluded. Jack Torrance is played obviously by Jack Nicholson and his wife Wendy is played by Shelly Duvall. Their son Danny is played by Danny Lloyd and he has a psychic ability to see the future and has an imaginary friend named Tony who lives in his mouth, yes I just said that.


The first sequence of the film it titled: Interview. This scene is pretty cool because it shows a slim Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance but we will just refer to him as Jack throughout interviewing for a job as a caretaker for the off season. I love the interview process and it is so cordial and businesslike that is until the interviewer shares disturbing information about the tragedy that took place in the winter of 1970. A man named Charles Grady who was the caretaker then went crazy and killed his family before blowing his brains out. Jack's response to this was interesting as he said simply, "I'm intrigued" prior to hearing the information and afterwards said "my wife will be too she is a ghost story and horror film fanatic". Ahhh good ol Stephen King at work! At home Danny has a vision which includes the very familiar and iconic blood flowing out of the walls and the elevator running down the halls while two twin girls in blue dresses stand side by side. Creepy I know!


The next sequence is called Closing Day and the family is driving up to the hotel so more scenic views are in full effect. Very pretty and I'm wondering if they really filmed it in the state of Colorado. I thought it was weird that the son Danny knew what cannibalism was when Jack and Wendy were speaking about the Donner Party. After arriving at the hotel Jack and Wendy get a tour of the grounds and their apartment. In another creepy scene while playing darts Danny has a vision of the twin girls. Their apartment is "cozy" as Jack says but really actually quite small. Got love when Jack says it is "homey" with smirk of his. I love the look of the hotel inside and out. Very rustic on the outside and elegant on the inside. Wendy and Danny's tour of the kitchen was incredible and the amount of food stored was mind boggling.
Next scene we see the chef and Danny sitting at a table while Danny enjoys some chocolate ice cream. It is here where we learn that the chef also has the ability to see the future and has the "shining" as well. Things get a little more intense while their conversation continues and Danny asks what is in room 237. The chef vehemently says to stay out of that room and it is quite clear something evil lurks in that room.


As the film moves along we go to the next sequence which is titled A Month Later. I cant help but be jealous of the amount of space Danny has to ride his toy tricycle bike around. As Jack is eating bacon in bed there are two things going through my mind. Breakfast for Dinner sounds yummy and man Jack Nicholson when he was younger looked like my Dad when he was younger. Uncanny in some scenes. Wendy and Danny take stroll in the Hedge Maze and the music immediately speaks danger to me, I love it! Nothing major happens until the music abruptly and very loudly stops and the screen reads Tuesday and we are entered into our next sequence of film.

Danny is back on his tricycle bike driving thru the halls but this type stops at room 237. Again you gotta love the music leading up to him walking to the door. This scene reminds me of how integral music and scores are to a films flow and intensity. The door is locked and he again sees a vision of the twins but then carries on and drives away. As Jack is typing at easily the largest typing desk around we first see signs that he is about to lose it when he goes off on his wife Wendy claiming she is breaking his concentration when she interrupts him even though she just wanted to see how he was doing. Next sequence up is Thursday and we see a happy and joyful Wendy and Danny out playing in the snow. I wish it snowed here and this scene makes me think of winter time. I cant wait but first up is Halloween, ok ok I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the film. As Wendy and Danny are playing in the snow outside we see a very creepy and scary looking Jack looking out at them in what was a very deep and intense stare. We realize more and more that something is about to snap with him.


Next up is Saturday. Winter is in full effect and we see a hardworking Jack at the typewriter banging on the keys while a huge fire burns in the fireplace. Once again the setting and backgrounds for these scenes are amazing inside this huge desolate hotel. Danny heads on another bike ride this team riding thru green walled rooms and eventually arriving around what looks to be a hall where hotel rooms are located. At the end of the hall the twins are visible to Danny at the end of the hall this time speaking to him asking him to come and play with them forever and ever and ever. It is after that when he sees a horrific vision of those same twins in that same hall strewn across the floor butchered to death with blood all of the place and a huge axe right in front of one of the bodies. Easily the most shocking scene of the movie to this point. Fast forward to Monday. We see a more unstable Jack tell his son he would never do anything to hurt him but I cant help but feeling this isn't quite true. Great acting by Jack Nicholson again in this scene but then again that is throughout the whole movie for him so its nothing new. Still stellar to see.

Next up is Wednesday. We see Danny go up to an opened door which reads 237. Things start to go awry from here. Wendy while in a boiler room hears screams and moans and finds Jack absolutely freaking out while having nightmare and he reveals that he was dreaming that he killed her and Danny. Then we see Danny slowly walking toward them and Wendy sees horrible red marks on Danny's neck while his sweater is ripped. A confused Jack sits there after being accused by Wendy of doing that to Danny and then amongst a screeching sound walks aimlessly through the halls into the Gold Room and heads to the bar. Jack continues to lose his mind and speaks to Lloyd the imaginary bartender. Nicholson is especially brilliant in this scene and immensely creepy. A screaming Wendy obviously wakes him from his imaginary state and she states they are not alone at the hotel. The next scene jumps to the chef laying in his bed alone watching the news while naked pictures of women hang around the walls of his room. Odd decor I might add. He has some sort of vision at the same time as Danny as it is evident something terrible is about to happen. We see visions of the interior of room of 237 and all of a sudden Jack appears out of nowhere and is standing in front of a naked women in a bathtub. In a scene that I am assuming was risque at the time the woman gets out of the tub completely naked full frontal and all and the two make out. Jack notices in the mirror that the women is an old woman with burn marks and rotting marks on her body and it one eerie moment the women goes after him with arms wide open and he bolts out of room 237. One very twisted scene but probably not that over the top for Mr. Kubrick.


As the film moves along Jack starts to get angrier and angrier and starts throwing around dishes and plates and then all of a sudden he comes to the hall that leads to the Gold Room and outside of the Gold Room there are balloons laying around and music can be heard from inside the Gold Room. Jack enters the room and there is a party going on that dates back in time, a burlesque time in history from what it seems. After getting a drink spilled on him by Mr. Grady Jack and Mr. Grady clean his jacket off in a restroom that is surrounded by blood red walls, never a good sign for horror films or films at all. After a creepy conversation with Grady which included the controversial n-word the scene jumps to Danny yelling out Redrum in which he proclaims that Danny is no longer there and cannot wake up. This was a chilling scene and acted out extremely well by Duvall and Lloyd. As the movie moves along the chef feverishly flies out to Denver and seeks assistance in an attempt to get up to the Hotel to see what is going on. He fears the worst and does whatever he can to get there. Meanwhile a bat wielding Wendy takes off looking for Jack and notices on his typewriter the infamous line typed out over and over and over. "All work an no play makes Jack a dull boy". While she looks through all the work he has done all she sees are endless papers of the same thing written over and over, page fulls by page fulls of that same line. The suspense builds in this scene incredibly with the help of a wonderful score and sound editing and before she knows it Jack is behind her. The next 5 minutes Jack Nicholson gives a remarkably terrifying performance of a pure psycho who would rival Norman Bates. A truly wonderful wonderful scene to watch. After Wendy knocks him down the staircase with a bat she places him in the food storage room. Jack continues to give an incredible acting performance as a truly psychotic mentally disturbed individual. It is actually quite freaky how well he played this role.


The next sequence states 4pm and Jack has a knock on his door and has a conversation through the door with Mr. Grady. Jack gives his word that he will deal with this matter in the harshest possible way. The door suddenly is unlocked and the scene jumps to the chef plowing through the snow trying to make it to the hotel. As things turn for the worse Danny is seeing standing over his Mom with a large butcher knife in his hand repeating the word redrum over and over before writing it on a door in red lipstick. As his pitch gets louder and louder she Wendy awakens and through the mirror behind him sees that it states Murder. No sooner does she see this that we are treated with one of the scariest and most memorable horror scenes of all time as Jack is axing his way through the door to the apartment. He states "Wendy I'm Home" prior to entering the front door. The classic scene is moments later when Wendy is left stuck in the bathroom as Jack peeks his head through and states that oh so famous line, "here's Johnny"! As the film nears it conclusion they hear the snowplow come barreling up the front of the Hotel as the Chef has made it there. Danny however went back inside and hid in one of the cabinets near the kitchen area as Jack continued to roam the hotel with the axe in hand. Jack eventually jumps out and brutally kills the chef and hunts for Danny.


Danny leads Jack out to the Hedge Maze which is visually stunning. I mean a maze covered in snow at night, it cant get much better than that, can it? Ill get past the film flub that 20 somewhat feet of snow is built up around the Hotel but the maze is covered in only a foot or two at best during a chase scene where Jack goes after Danny. Inside the Hotel Wendy is seeing visions of just about everything including the dead chef, skeletal dead people, blood flowing hallways, etc. Things are getting crazier by the second and the music build up in these final scenes are amazing. Awesome awesome score for this film and without it these scenes wouldn't have been half as suspenseful or nerve racking. After Wendy and Danny get away in the snowplow we see a frozen Jack sitting in the daytime out in the maze frozen to death. The final scene takes us back inside the Hotel with a picture on a wall. As we get closer and closer to the picture we see that there is a young looking Jack Torrance in the front of a large room of people and below it reads, "Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball 1921! Yeah WOW! What a twist ending to a wonderful scary and suspenseful film. I could dwell more and more about this film but considering this might be my longest blog to date and is my first live blog Ill end it here with a sentence or two. Acting - BRILLIANT! Setting - AMAZING! Story - MINDBOGGLING! Overall - a true masterpiece in the Horror Genre. Easily an A+!

#62 - The Monster Squad - 1987

The 6th movie I decided to watch this week was the 1987 cult classic The Monster Squad. I remember seeing this one back when I was younger and I still love it to this day. This film has a much larger following and fan base than I ever imagined but it just goes to show how popular it is. I'm not sure if it was that popular at that time back it is very popular now and easily regarded as a cult classic by many, including myself! Below is my detailed review.

This film had a lot of different integral actors involved half of which were classic monsters. The basic plot of the film is that Dracula gathers all his monster friends to take over rule of the world but a group of young kids from the neighborhood who are monster fanatics and have claimed themselves to be the "Monster Squad" set out to defeat the evil monsters with the help of one of their own, Frankenstein. The "bad" monsters are led by Dracula and include The Mummy, The Swamp Thing, and Wolfman. Frankenstein who is originally brought back to life by Dracula ends up helping out the young kids in the movie but that is for later on. Another interesting character in the film is a actually listed as "the scary German guy" by the credits and actually was not called by name in the film. This rounded out the main cast for this film. The kids, the monsters, and the scary German guy were all great in their roles, especially Dracula so lets dwell on him a bit.


Duncan Regehr played the role of Count Dracula and played it perfectly. He was an ever so convincing Dracula and probably one of the best I ever saw on film. After some research on his role in this film it is overwhelmingly acknowledged by many critics and film reviewers that his interpretation of Dracula is one of the very best..ever! I dont doubt this for one second. His presence was ever so demanding in every scene he was in and he was easily the most dominant and striking character in this film. I found it kind of weird that Liam Neeson was considered for this role and as great of an actor that he is I think Duncan's performance would have been hard to top.


My other favorite characters in this film would have been Frankenstein and Wolfman as I thought they were quite accurately portrayed in there roles. The Mummy didn't have a very large role and the Swamp Thing's on screen time was even less yet they were decent characters that added to the films overall story. I did however find the Swamp Thing's face a little too corny for my taste. As for the "human" characters I obviously liked the leader of the group Sean (Andre Gower) the best followed by Rudy (Ryan Lambert) and Horace (Brent Chalem). I also thought it was pretty cool that the Mom from the Goonies was Sean's Mom in this movie.


There was a lot that I enjoyed about this film and Ill start with the setting. The first scene of the film takes place in Dracula's castle and it looks very classic, very Universal Studios classic horror film type classic. Did I wear out the word classic? I cant help it I loved it! The cave like castle setting, the skeleton dead people popping out, etc. was all great. Loved it! I also thought that the swamp like atmosphere where the monsters emerged on earth was pretty darn cool too. The weeping willow type trees and lush setting was very creepy. What was weird though was that it looked almost identical to the setting that was right behind Sean's tree house where they held their monster meetings. I loved that setting as well but I cant recall anything in the film indicating that where the monsters congregated together was only steps away from Seans tree house. It might have been though.


Who could forget the old mansion at 666 Shadowbrook Lane either. This was Dracula's makeshift castle and the outdoor shots of this mansion were more visually stunning and scary than the indoors and reminded me of the Disney film's version of the Haunted Mansion on the outside. Very cool looking. Another kind of spooky looking house was the house where the Scary German guy lived. The front of his house reminded me of the neighbors house in the Burbs with Tom Hanks. No up keep on the yard - check. Creepy guy looking out the front window - check. Last but not least was the Town Square scene at the end. I don't know why but the Town Square setting for this movie looked like it could have been filmed at Universal Studios even though I'm pretty sure it was not. Still I love how the movie culminated at the town square with the final action sequences taking place there.


There were a lot of scenes and references in this film that I enjoyed so let me start from the beginning. The shirt that Sean is wearing when first seeing him at school that states Stephen King Rules is awesome. You also gotta love the scene where EJ, the school bully is forced to eat a snickers bar off the ground after he beat up Horace (the fat kid) and Rudy comes to Horace's defense. You have to love it when a bully gets bullied, right? I thought the Monster test scene with Rudy was pretty cool too and I loved how all the kids were so into their club, very 80's style. As I stated before the scene were all the monsters gather was very cool and set heavy. I also enjoyed the scene where Sean went to his rooftop to watch a new movie that came out in the drive in movie theater across the way. It reminded me of when I could see the drive in movie theater near my house on Beach Blvd when I was younger, ahhh the good ol Highway 39 Drive In!


I thought the Mummy scene with the little kid and the obnoxious sarcastic dad was quite funny and I loved the advertisement for Pepsi in the scene where the kids talk with the scary German guy and have Pie and Pepsi, not Milk, but Pepsi. Too funny. All the scenes with Frankenstein were cool and it was kind of unique how he bonded a friendship with the 5 year old girl Phoebe. I liked that touch. It evened out the playing field. One of the funnier lines in the film is when Rudy shoots an arrow and de-mummifies the Muffy and states "see you later Band aid Breath! Hilarious!! Now even this film isn't without its flaws. The major one for me would be Wolfman getting blown into several pieces yet able to come back to life. A little too far fetched for my imagination, who does he think he is, Jason?? The final sequence of the film had a great battle scene specifically when Frankenstein saved the girl from Dracula. Although not dead it took Sean's final blow to Dracula to kill him as the film ended with soldiers arriving thanks to a letter from fellow Monster Squad club member Eugene. Very corny yes but well within the realms of this film. For some real fun I suggest seeing this film. It was funny, entertaining, and had some cool looking monsters in it so for me it was a win-win-win all around! Had it been a bit longer even though I read the directors wanted it under 90 minutes I would have given it the ultimate grade but still this one in my book gets an A!

#61 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - 2006

The 5th movie I chose to watch this week was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. This film was actually a prequel to the original remake in 2003 (does that make sense) that starred Jessica Beil. This franchise is not a favorite of mine but I did add this film to my list since I had never seen it and had heard good reviews about this from friends and online websites alike. So I thought Id give it a chance and see if I enjoyed it as much as the original one (2003) that once again was the remake of the original original, confused yet? Below is my detailed review.

As is in most horror films even the big ones the actors and actresses involved are not your big hollywood A-listers. Now sometimes you'll get luck and get a Jennifer Love Hewitt for the "I know What You Did Last Summer" films but c'mon you cant always get a star of that nature. haha. Ok yes that was my ode to Jennifer Love, one of my favorites of all time!! Ahh the I know what you did films, good times!! Ok so the cast is pretty basic. Besides Leatherface and Sheriff Hoyt you have the four basic main characters who are made up of two couples who are twenty something college kids as it seems in almost 90% of horror films. The two most recognizable ones for me in this film are Jordana Brewster and Diora Baird. I have seen them in previous films before but not the other two guys. Obviously the main actor and the most notable one is R Lee Ermey who plays Sheriff Hoyt. He is by far the best one in this film.


This movie basically shows how Leatherface became the monster he is and how he became that way. We also learned how Uncle Charlie became the Sheriff. Its real simple, he killed the Sheriff when Sheriff Hoyt was about to shoot Leatherface. Leatherface is Uncle Charlie's nephew and. Uncle Charlie basically takes over as the Sheriff and becomes Sheriff Hoyt. Sheriff Hoyt lives with a bunch of other inbred whacko's including among others Leatherface, Monty, Tea Lady. This cast of misfits is quite the arrangement of family members and not a family I would ever want to know and not even care to meet. It does make me think there probably are families out there like this sans the murdering psychotic tendencies or course.


One thing I remember hearing about this film is that they upped the ante on the gore and blood in this film and I would have to agree with that. According to some research I did on this film it originally had to have 17 scenes cut in order for the MPAA to give it an R rating as opposed to an NC-17 rating. Now I'm assuming they had to cut out quite a few real disturbing and gut wrenching scenes for that to take place because although the blood and gore was stronger in this film than in the 2003 version I don't think anything in there was that crazy or controversial at all and I've seen much worse in other films. Maybe there are more horror movies that require scenes to be cut to get down to a rated R than I ever thought. Below Ill list some of the goriest scenes the film had to offer and some others that weren't necessarily gory but which I found pretty interesting.


Lets start with the initial scene with the baby when Leatherface is born. Kind of gross and upsetting but not half as bad as the birth scene in The Hills Have Eyes 2. Obviously right from the start the directors want to hit the audience with a shock factor and it did sort of. Had I seen this prior to the HHE2 I might have thought it was more graphic and disturbing but I didn't think it was that bad. There is one scene that is not gory at all but disturbing to watch and that is when the Sheriff is beating with a stick one of the guys as he is attempting to do 10 pushups. One thing I found very unbelievable and unrealistic is that this guy a few moments later is able to run and move after such a beat down but that is typical hollywood movie mystique right. The unbelievable becomes believable at least in Horror films I know.


The gore and blood pick up as the film nears its end. The dark haired main guy in the film is pinned down face up on a table down in the basement and Leatherface literally skins off his arms. With nothing but ligaments and muscle over his bone this scene was pretty graphic even though it didn't show all that it could have. No doubt this was one of the scenes they had to scale down or cut in order to avoid that NC-17 rating. Leatherface increasingly became more brutal as the film progressed mainly due to the Sheriff's yelling and screaming demands to do so. After killing a biker who was looking for his girlfriend by chainsaw he became very comfortable with his new toy. He even sawed off both of Uncle Monty's legs right at the kneecap. This led him on a rampage and he eventually went downstairs and jammed the chainsaw up the guys chest killing him as well. Very brutal scene.


There were only two left, Chrissie (Brewster) and the blonde haired guy, Dean played by Taylor Handley, yeah I know you have never heard of him. haha. Dean in a failed escape attempt ends up getting a chainsaw through his chest as well and is literally picked up off the ground and flown across the room like a doll. Chrissie ends up stealing the tow truck and right when it looks though she is about to reach safety after seeing cops investigating the original car crash scene Leatherface appears from the backseat and plummets the chainsaw through the seat and into her chest killing her and ramming her into the two police officers which completes one more final devastating scene of death. The final sequence of the film shows leatherface walking down the dark highway alone with his chainsaw and the screen pans out to show the carnage he left behind. In my opinion this film was ok at best. Yes it was a gore fest and yes there was some brutal killings throughout however I felt this film was just ok and I guess that I was looking for more in the plot then just the inbred cannibalistic family finding four young kids torturing them and killing them. All in all I give this one a C!

#60 - Friday the 13th - 1980

The 4th movie I chose to watch this week was the 1980 film Friday the 13th. I was about the say the "1980 classic" but after watching this dreadful film I could not bring myself to do so. I had seen it before don't get me wrong but it must have been a long time ago when I thought things were quite scarier than they really were. Below is my detailed review.

This will be a much shorter blog than most my others simply because this movie was not that great therefore I don't have that much positive things to say to fill up a blog. The cast was made up of actors and actresses that most people don't even know and the only one who really went on to be a major film star was Kevin Bacon who had the role of Jack Burrel. I did find it quite odd that Sally Field auditioned for the role of Alice Hardy. Thankfully she wasn't in this film because I couldn't see her and Friday the 13th ever belonging in the same sentence.


So this film is 30 years old and I think one reason I had originally thought it was a classic and much scarier than it really was is because I thought so highly of Halloween and all of the elements for a great horror picture were available for this film. Young kids at a camp site in the woods where there was past tragic history. I also for some reason remembered a stronger musical score for this film and more of a chhh chhh chhh chhh sound before the killings and during the intense scenes. I didn't barely hear that at all in this film.


The first victim we see is a girl killed in the forest and she is slit in her throat against a tree. D- for the makeup and special effects for this one and this actually made me dread what was to come in the film in that category. One bright spot was a creepy older gentleman who kept saying "your all doomed" throughout the film and even made his way to Camp Crystal Lake at one point to warn the camp counselors. He was pretty creepy and to be honest with you more so than any killer in this film ever was.


As I said before Kevin Bacon was in this film and his character, Jack, meets his final moments of life at an astonishing 43 minute mark of the film. It was a corny kill scene as an arrow is plunged through the bottom of his bed into his throat killing him. The whole scene was poor and even sadder that it took 43 minutes to get to that point. Meanwhile other counselors were playing Strip Monopoly and if the directors were setting out to shooting the more boring possible way to show young camp counselors playing a game of Strip anything they succeeded with flying colors! Job well done guys, terrible terrible scene.


More death and mayhem finally followed suite but was done so unfortunately in the same poor amateur method as before. One girl is axed to death in a very quick death scene that didn't scare one bit and then after one of the guys is arrowed to death and hanging on a door one of his eyes actually flinched. Terrible goof in a scene like that. After some investigating I found out that the actor twitched during this scene because the eye effect that the director's used for this scene caused extreme pain to the actor and I guess re-shooting the scene wasn't an option because that scene made it to the final cut, sad I know.


As the film nears the end we come to learn that Mrs. Voorhees is actually the killer in the film and her son Jason who had drowned years before was not even the killer. The Mom is creepy Ill give her that but it was hard to watch the scene where she is talking and it is supposed to be Jason's voice at one point telling his mommy not to let the girl get away. I don't know if it is because I just saw Psycho the night before and Anthony Perkins version of a voice over of his mother was so brilliantly done or what but this one was quite terrible in this film as was the eventual beheading of Mrs. Voorhees at the end of the film. Easily the scariest scene of the film was at the end when a deformed looking person emerges from the lake and pulls down one of the girls into the water. It turns out this was just a dream and I guess so was my thought that this was a good movie and a "classic" one in the horror genre. Sorry to have to do it but this one gets a D!

#59 - Psycho - 1960

The 3rd movie I chose to watch this week is a classic in every sense of the word. This movie is the 1960 blockbuster Psycho! 50 Years after its original release this film still stands as one of the greatest horror films of all time and for good reason. I have done a great deal of research on this film and learned some pretty interesting stuff and this is easily one of my favorite horror films ever. Below is my detailed review.

Now just in case there are some out there who don't know this movie or anything about it let me first say, push the rock aside and crawl out, welcome to the world. haha. This 1960 classic starred the following individuals. Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, Vera Miles as Lila Crane, Martin Balsam as Detective Milton Arbogast, and John Gavin as Sam Loomis. Speaking of Gavin, I found it funny last night when my wife said "wow, he is an attractive man". I don't even know if he is still alive or not but I wonder what he looks like as an older gentleman? The cast was great and Id like to dedicate the entire next paragraph to one Mr. Anthony Perkins, Norman Bates himself!


I dont know enough about Anthony Perkins as an actor and what he did before this film but this has to be his most memorable role ever. He was beyond brilliant in the role of Norman Bates. I mean here you have a tall skinny dark haired handsome young man who on the outside seems friendly and kind but there is a whole different ball game playing upstairs with this guy. I hear a lot of people compare him to Ted Bundy but personally I never saw Ted Bundy as that charismatic handsome guy people thought he was but I'm not a woman so what do I know. All I know is that Norman Bates was pure psycho! The smirks and smiles, laughs and chuckles were just a rouse because the real Norman Bates came more to fruition when he was questioned by Sam Loomis and became agitated and highly irritated. The knuckles increasingly moving faster on the desk, the eyebrow twitching, and the mouth starting to stutter were all signs of the beast that was within and Anthony Perkins played it all so well! His incredibly believable insane character all came to a creepy end when we see a Norman Bates in a jail cell at the end of the film speaking as his mother providing a menacing smile from ear to ear at the camera. Truly sensational and this scene among many others in the films makes me wish I had the opportunity to see it back when it opened in the theater back in 1960, how scary would that have been?


There's no need to divulge about the plot of this film because my take is if you don't know the story or never heard of it you don't deserve to get a history lesson here. Check out one of the hundred or so sites online for more info or better yet rent the movie! I honestly don't think any adult out there wouldn't know about this film though right? With that being said I'm going to list some of my favorite scenes of the film below as well as describe the magical music throughout this film that is iconic to this day and forever will be. Ill also touch briefly on the historic set for this film that still stands and is easily my favorite stop on the Universal Studios Tram Tour in Hollywood, CA.


Lets start with the music. One word, AMAZING! This music will forever be the most notable and recognizable music and score for any horror film, scratch that, any film in the history of cinema. Now remember this is my personal opinion but lets be honest when you hear this music do you really ever sit there thinking, what is that too? Highly doubtful! To me there is not any other musical score more notable than this and yes I know there have been other notable ones out there but this takes the cake and yes that includes "Singing in the Rain". The music is made up of string instrument's only and is ranked #4 on AFI's (American Film Institute) 100 Years of Film Scores. Ill have to check and see what was #1-3. The screeching scream like noise that is the most memorable is just downright frightening and loud especially when played on surround sound. I mean if I couldn't have seen this in the theater a viewing at home with all the lights out and surround sound on would have to be my 2nd best choice right? All in all remarkable music!


The setting for this film was basically the Bates Motel and the Psycho House where Norman Bates lived behind the Motel. This set and house are still standing today in wonderful condition at the Universal Studios Lot in Hollywood, CA. I love seeing this set every time I visit Universal Studios and a couple years back while attending the Halloween Horror Nights we actually got to walk right by the front of the Motel itself and then up and around and right by the Psycho house as well. Being that close was amazing and I always think to myself what it would have been like to be on that set 50 years ago. The set itself is pretty bare with your essential 12 motel rooms and office but the house is awesome looking. The reason this set was so spooky was because the mere thought of a secluded motel out off the highway in the middle of nowhere is just creepy. I mean personally I think of hikers, serial killers, and homeless men and women frequenting these places and that to me is kinda scary. Add in a "psycho" like Norman Bates as your Motel Manager then things get even crazier. I wish they had opened up the actual sets with doors open and all to set the interior of them but I doubt that is ever going to be allowed on the public tour. I wonder if on the VIP Tour at Universal if that is something they do? Hmmm, Ill have to check into that.


Ok lets talk scenes. This film had some great ones and one in particular legendary one that we all know. The scenes that I enjoyed the most were ones that took place at Bates Motel or the Psycho House. For instance the scene where Marion had sandwiches with Norman in the office of the Motel was brilliant and freaky. The stuffed birds all around which led to the taxidermist dialogue was quite odd and gave us all a sense that Norman was a little different than your average Joe. The quote where Norman says "A boys best friend is his mother" is the #56 most popular movie quote by AFI. I also really loved the scene where Sam Loomis questioned and practically interrogated Norman while Lila was snooping around the Motel. The intensity and agitation that came over Norman in this scene was masterful! Almost as good but not half as intense was the scene where Arbogast questioned Norman in the office as well.


Lets turn to the scariest scenes of the film. The music and score helped make the scare factor even more for these scenes as it did for some much of the movie itself. Ok the infamous shower scene. This scene was so very cool on so many levels and not having lived back in the 60's all I can do is imagine how risky this scene must have been. The stabbing and screaming and blood were all incredible ingredients in one historic scene. This scene was the highlight of the film. A scene that I actually thought was even scarier was the scene where Arbogast reached the top of the staircase in the Psycho House and almost immediately after doing so the screeching music played and a old woman (Norman) comes running out of the room and stabs Arbogast who then falls to his death down the stairs. That to me was the scariest scene in the movie. One of the more intense was obviously when Lila was hiding from Norman and went downstairs to see the skeletal remains before Norman dressed as his mother came in to try and kill her. The final scene of the movie where we see a smiling creepy Norman talking in his mother's voice while in a jail chamber was a perfect ending for a near perfect film! AFI didn't rank this the 14th greatest movie of all time for nothing! For me it was amazing and an obvious A+!

#58 - The Human Centipede (First Sequence) - 2009

The 2nd movie I chose to watch this week was the controversial film "The Human Centipede". I had heard about this movie about 4 or 5 months ago from some co-workers and read some online articles about it and it was causing quite a stir. Shortly after I saw this listed on my On Demand Pay Per View station to purchase through my cable company but never really was that interested. After reading more and more about it I thought Id give it a try so I borrowed my friends copy and decided I would add it to my marathon and see what all the hype was about. Below is my detailed review.

Oh where oh where to start with this one. Like I said before my intrigue from word of mouth really brought me to watch this movie and after seeing it I personally wish I hadn't. I don't really know where to start but I guess describing the film's plot would be a good start, right? There isn't much to it so here goes. Two American tourists who are visiting Germany get a flat tire and become stranded in the woods somewhere in Germany. In a desperate attempt to get help they walk through the woods and find a home belonging to a demented Doctor and ask to use his phone. This Doctor eventually drugs the women and then surgically connects the two girls and another Japanese man together to form a Human Centipede. That right there is basically the entire premise of the film.


The actors and actresses in this film did a decent job but they aren't any household names anybody would know because lets be honest who would really want to have their name attached to a movie with this reputation. The Doctor in the film looked a little familiar to me and looked as though he could have possibly played in a movie like Hostel or Turistas but I cannot confirm that and I didn't really do any research on looking into it because I just really didn't care. The two girls are played by actresses who are your typical New York 20 something party girls who were attractive but quite naive. The Japanese victim is quite vocal and screams and yells throughout most of the film and through subtitles probably has more lines than anybody else in the film except maybe the Doctor himself.


This film had a run time of only 90 minutes however I felt we saw way too much of the doctor. There were a lot of moments that this movie really lagged and was extremely slow and boring and it was very predictable at certain points in the film. Doctor Heiter was quite odd and strange and obviously demented and Dieter Laster played that pretty well but even with a decent performance by the doctor this film just never really gained any momentum. I actually found it quite creepy when the girls had just gotten their flat tire and an old perverted man pulled up next to them in his car. After some stupid and useless comments he just sits there in his car right next to the girls car staring at them. Very creepy. He eventually drove off and the girls when walking through the woods but that was by far one of the more creepy parts of the film.


I cant really say there were any particular scenes that I "enjoyed" in this film but there were some that made me cringe and I guess that is sometimes one of the qualities you look for when watching a horror film. I'm not a big fan of needles so the needle he stuck in the back of one of the girls neck was not a pleasant scene for me and neither was the one where he killed his first male victim by simply giving him what must have been a lethal dose of something through an intravenous line. No needles into a body part on that latter one but still, not a happy moment in the film. Then again there weren't really any happy moments in this film, at all. Lets move onto some more intense and unpleasant scenes.


I personally thought that the short graphic presentation of what the Doctor was going to be doing was actually almost as horrific and shocking as the final outcome of his surgery itself. What made the presentation so creepy was the calmness of Dr. Heiter as he was explaining everything ever while talking over Katsuro's screams. The images of one gastric system that flows thru three human being's was disgusting and evil. After the presentation was over a short time later one girl escapes briefly before failing into the Doctor's pool and eventually getting caught. A short time later we see the Doctor prepare for surgery and then we see just very short snippets of the surgery itself, nothing really graphic. I was actually expecting to see more graphic images and video of the surgery itself but I guess they left that our for more still shots of the Doctor himself just looking creepy.


After the three humans are connected we are treated (or tortured) with the visual image of three human beings surgically connected together. The Doctor is so amused with his work that he cries out in joy then kisses a mirror afterwards and treats the three as a dog. He is obviously obsessed with the three dogs he had before which he did the same thing too. Watching these human's be treated this way wasn't fun or entertaining and after about 10 minutes of it I asked myself why I am watching this? I guess once you see the finished product there isn't much else to see in this film. Its like that was it. I mean watching them desperately and unsuccessfully try to escape was sad as we all know it wasn't possible. Watching a human eat food from a dog bowl was not entertainment for me, I'm sorry. There is also a whipping scene that can only be heard and not seen, thank goodness. As the film moved toward the end the lead "centipede" stabbed the Doctor in the foot and then bite off a chunk of flesh behind his ear. Intertwined in the story was some cops who came to interrogate the Doctor presumably because of the disappearance to some people. They eventually get killed at the end of the film but not before shooting the Doctor straight in the forehead and killing him. Prior to the Doctor's death though was a scene where Katsuro takes a piece of glass and slits his throat and bleeds out and dies, yeah not a favorite scene of mine in this film. After the Doctor is shot we are treated to one final touching scene in this film and that is when one of the girls, the one in the back, reaches her hand up front to touch the one girl in the middle and then we see her fade away and die. It was one final touch from one friend to another and we are left seeing the one girl in the middle still alive and very much attached and alone in a strange place in Germany. Ok so I've already written too much so let me end it with this. Intrigue is the only reason I watched this and it ended up wasting 90 minutes of my life. A bore fest if you ask me and the shock of it all was minimal at best and more disgusting than anything else. I would easily pass on this one and not waste your time. I give this a D!