Faithful Companion is simply but difficult. You are at the cemetery, visiting the mausoleum. You want to get in the crypt. Opening the doors that lead into the crypt should be easy except you are being followed by a ghost. Any action you take will be duplicated by the ghost two turns later.
That may not sound like a big deal until you learn that, if the ghost touches you, you will pass out. If you take something and are still holding it two turns later, that means the ghost will take it from you. If you have to open a door by pushing three latches so that they open, the ghost will follow behind you, pushing the latches closed. The game’s challenge comes from fooling the ghost into helping you accomplish what you want to do.
I enjoyed this game. It is short, it is not impossibly hard, and it’s rewarding when you actually figure it all out.
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
This October, I am going to be using our 4 Shots From 4 Films feature to pay tribute to some of my favorite horror directors, in alphabetical order! That’s right, we’re going from Argento to Zombie in one month!
Today’s director: the great Ed Wood!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Bride of the Monster (1955, dir by Edward D. Wood, Jr.)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1956, dir by Edward D. Wood, Jr)
Night of the Ghouls (1958, dir by Edward D. Wood, Jr)
The Sinister Urge (1960, dir by Edward D. Wood, Jr.)
The Hiatus is Over…. Yes, your Proto Millennial has returned to bring you all the incisiv…..Oh, you wanted to read about the next season of Stranger Things….Fine!
Stranger Things season 1 tapped into the essence of predatory thrills that exist in humankind deep within the recesses of our genes like when a lion roars at the zoo and modern people freeze in their tracks. What could have been a better way to terrify a modern audience? Nosferatu!!! Yes, read my previous reviews. I’m right and other reviewers are wrong.
This season The Duffer Brothers try to hook us with the same sophomore slump method that JJ Abrams employed with The Force Awakens- Let’s just throw in another lady and make the monster….bigger.
Stranger Things wasn’t horribly boring, but we’re in for solid C quality. Buckle up and prepare to be Mildly Entertained.
We open in Hawkins… NOPE…. Pittsburgh. Sorry, Pittsburgh sucks on it’s best day.
We see a group of punk teens robbing an…apartment building?! Fine. Cops give chase one of the more stolid thieves uses her Mojo to make a cop think a bridge collapsed. So her power is Being David Copperfield *bored clap*. She then gets bloody nose and we’re supposed to give a shit- we don’t. She also, has a tatto of 008 in her arm; I’ll call her Crazy Eight because Eight Ball is too cool for this opening.
We return to the suburbs. Mike and all the boys head to the arcade and lament that “Madmax” now has the Dig Dug highscore. This goes on for a while and we’re supposed to care that the Madmax is girl- We Don’t. We see that now Will’s back. During the High Score concern, Will goes outside and sees the Upside Down, but this time there’s a storm and a big spider beast coming to the town that inspires mild interest. Will’s performance is emblematic of the season itself- not bad, not great- just meh.
Bearded Crank is waiting for Hop at the police station. Bearded Crank re-caps about El sorta and is a paranormal investigator or some such shit. We learn later that he’s soaking Barb’s Parents to pay for him to search for their daughter. Hop gets a call to investigate rotten pumpkins and boy are they rotten. That’s about it.
Winona has found love again with a porky Sean Aston. He’s boring and cute- that covers it.
Mike has to get rid of two boxes of his toys because he’s been rebelling. Really?! What is he wearing a paisley sweater vest?! Hey Mike, a note from your very young Uncle. The toys should probably go. Also, try to date a girl who can’t disintegrate you when you cheat on her with her with the waaaaay hot Graduate School R.A. down the hall in college. Trust me.
We learn that Will has been seeing Paul Reiser a quasi-nice therapist at the Castl… I mean Evil Government Building. Will expositions that the upside down has a really big bad coming to kill everyone. *Shrugs* After he leaves, we return to the basement where they are pruning the upside down portal with a flame thrower- Better Government Facilities and Gardens.
The episode ends with Hop having dinner with El!!! Yay, El’s alive and Hop has a daughter again!
This episode wasn’t great, but I guess if you’re at the gym and have 47 minutes to kill… Watch “Longmire” – it’s really awesome! It’s got it all!
As always, Retweet! Repost! Tell Lisa Marie Bowman that I’m worth keeping around.
I previously shared Haxan back in October of 2013. A day later, YouTube removed the video and turned my post into a tease.
Well, the video has been uploaded again so I’m sharing Haxan again!
To quote what I wrote the last time that I shared this particular film:
Directed by the Danish director Benjamin Christensen, Haxan is a quasi-documentary that, over the course of four separate sections, documents the history of witchcraft and superstition in Europe. Along with making a potent case that religion and superstition are largely the same thing, Haxan is best known for dramatizing various old folk tales. Though the film was made in 1922, its images of lustful devils and dark magic remain powerful to this day.
I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I tried.
Seriously, I tried to get emotionally involved in this episode but there’s really only so much time that I can spend watching people shoot at each other before I get bored. It’s kinda funny, to be honest. I spent all last season complaining about Rick not doing anything. Then, this episode comes along and it’s basically 45 minutes of Rick and the members of his militia kicking Savior ass. Rick is finally doing something. This entire episode was all about Rick doing something. And I was bored out of my mind.
Basically, this episode followed several different groups as they all launched concurrent attacks on different Savior compounds. A few minor members of Rick’s militia died but the majority of the victims were Saviors. For all of their fearsome reputation, it’s pretty obvious that the only really strong savior is Negan. The rest of them are just bullies and sycophants. Unless Negan is physically there to tell them what to do, they’re easily defeated. Over the course of the episode, a few of the dead reanimated and started eating anyone they could get their hands on. That was good. The show is called The Walking Dead, afterall.
During the attack, we were allowed a glimpse into some of the group dynamics in this new alliance. Perhaps the most intriguing scenes were the ones that features Jesus (Tom Payne) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) debating whether or not to execute a man who claimed to just be a civilian. Tara’s approach was significantly more ruthless than Jesus’s. Even when Jesus had both the opportunity and the justification to kill a savior, he still decided to merely knock the man out. Jesus said that Maggie would back him up. Tara replied that Rick’s got her back.
Meanwhile, King Ezekiel, Carol, and the rest of Team Renaissance Faire wandered through the woods, with Ezekiel going on and on with his faux royal posturing.
As for Rick, he ran into a guy named Morales who is now a part of the Saviors. Apparently, Rick met Morales in Atlanta. Considering that there’s only a handful of people still alive in the world of The Walking Dead, it’s actually not too shocking that Morales and Rick would run into each other again. It’s a small world. If Rick had run into Shane’s brother or maybe Carl (who we saw running away last week), it would be exciting. But Morales? Who cares?
Finally, Morgan apparently now feels that he’s achieved some sort of immortality. I guess that means that Morgan will eventually turn out of the be this season’s surprise sacrifice.
We’ll see what happens. Maybe this episode will pay off in the future but for now, it’s just forgettable.
I wish the literal video for this was still up. Oh, well.
All these years later, I still don’t have any idea why she goes into that house. I guess we are supposed to believe she lives there with these two kids that miss their cue?
These other kids nail it.
Despite finding lists of all the celebrities in this video, I have no idea who this guy is that Ray Parker Jr. becomes for this bit.
I also wonder why she didn’t see him while turning away from the moving table to go to the window.
In the window is footage of the movie that has aged horribly. Parker Jr. is blue screened in there for this famous shot.
He ain’t afraid of no ghost. A lawsuit on the other the hand, that’s a different matter. I hope this music video doesn’t remind me of a Huey Lewis & The News video as well.
Now Ray Parker Jr. stands creepily outside of her window.
This is looking familiar.
Chevy Chase can call Ghostbusters if he has a ghost problem…
but what about if he gets stuck in Benji again?
Who can he call then?
I knew this looked familiar.
Do You Believe In Love by Huey Lewis & The News (1982)
Do You Believe In Love by Huey Lewis & The News (1982)
I’m sure it’s a coincidence. I just find it humorous to see that considering the lawsuit saying that this song ripped off, to one extent or another, the Huey Lewis & The News song I Want A New Drug. The scene above is from the video that helped kick off their career on MTV and set the tone for their future videos since it was such a success despite being ridiculous. Is the riff in You Crack Me Up…
sound like the same riff from Johnny And Mary by Robert Palmer?
Or is it just me?
What a feeling. Thanks for making that one easy, Irene Cara.
Something tells me that Cindy Harrell was hired by someone who saw the movie Model Behavior (1982), which she was in.
Model Behavior (1982, dir. Bud Gardner)
Model Behavior (1982, dir. Bud Gardner)
From what I’ve read, they just showed up on the set of a movie Candy was shooting to try and get him to make this cameo appearance.
Ray Parker Jr. rising from the top of the stairs like he’s Michael Myers come to kill her. Why?
Or at least scare her. It’s probably a reference to Gozer.
Melissa Gilbert. I have no idea what she’s doing here. I’ve only seen an episode or two of Little House On The Prairie, so I guess there could have been some episodes with ghosts. Some of these cameos feel like they happened because the celebrities were involved with NBC.
Speaking of cameos I can’t explain, it’s former baseball player Ollie Brown.
Boundaries!
I do like that for the majority of the shot it looks like she should be falling over but isn’t.
More people that Parker can summon for some reason.
Don’t worry about them.
Pose for the featured image of this post.
Thank you.
Jeffrey Tambor.
Is it 555-5555…
or 555-2368 as you showed earlier?
George Wendt apparently got in trouble with the Screen Actors Guild for his appearance in this video. I’ll link to the article with that information at the end.
Senator Al Franken.
Now we get a series of confusing cameos.
Danny DeVito. I think this is only the second music video he has ever been in. The other one was for the song Billy Ocean did for The Jewel Of The Nile (1985).
Carly Simon for some reason. She would go on to do the theme song to Working Girl (1988) with Sigourney Weaver. Maybe they were friends. I don’t know.
Umm…one more thing. Have you tried calling the Ghostbusters? No clue as to why Peter Falk is here.
The breakdancing was improvised. So was Parker Jr. pushing Bill Murray around.
I think Teri Garr has one of the best cameos.
Don’t swallow that cigarette, Chevy.
Fun fact: In European and other non-US markets, the “no” sign was flipped.
If you want to read some more information about the video, then follow this link over to ScreenCrush where they have a write-up on the video with information from people who worked on the video.
According to mvdbase, Ivan Reitman directed, Keith Williams wrote the script, Jeff Abelson produced it, Daniel Pearl shot it, and Peter Lippman was the production manager.
If you ever get a chance to watch the literal music video for this, then do so. I doubt it will surface again though seeing as this music video almost didn’t get an official release because of the issues surrounding all the cameos.
Some movies just force the viewer to ask, “What would you do?”
I mean, just consider what it would be like to be in the scenario that’s presented to us in the 1990 film, Sorority House Massacre II. You’re a college student. You’ve got your entire future ahead of you. The president of your sorority has just purchased a new sorority house and she wants you and three others to spend the weekend helping her fix the place up.
You arrive at the house and you discover that it’s literally on the verge of collapsing. There’s no electricity. There’s no telephone. (And remember, this is back when people just used landlines.) There’s no hot water. Soon after arriving, you’re informed that there’s two reasons why the house was being sold at such a cheap price.
First off, there’s the neighbor. He’s a creepy, kinda pervy-looking guy named Orville Ketchum. When Orville comes over to meet his new neighbors, he announces that he has the keys to the basement. He reaches into his pants to retrieve them. Ewwww!
Secondly, it turns out that the house isn’t just any deserted house. It’s the old Hockstadder Place! Years ago, Mr. Hockstadder killed his daughters before dying. Orville witnessed the whole thing. As he tells the story, you might notice that the flashbacks are lifted from a film called Slumber Party Massacre, despite the fact that you’re starring in Sorority House Massacre II.
Despite all of that, you still enter the house. A storm is rolling in and, whenever you look out the window, you see the same lightning stock footage that has appeared in a countless number of cheap horror movies.
When you and your friends decide to explore the basement, you find a Ouija board. You know that Ouija boards can be dangerous but everyone else wants to run upstairs and use it. Someone suggests that maybe the board can be used to contact the spirit of Hockstadder. After all, according to Orville, Hockstadder swore that his murderous spirit would never leave the house and would possess anyone who tried to move in.
At this point, you have two options.
Do you say, “Okay, obviously, it’s not a good idea to contact the spirit of a murderer — especially one that said he would possess anyone who tries to contact him — so I’m going to go ahead and leave now?”
or
Do you light some candles, strip down to your underwear in front of a bunch of open windows (despite the fact that weird old Orville is right across the street), sit on a filthy floor, and try to communicate with the spirit of a homicidal maniac?
The smart option would be the first one so, of course, the characters in Sorority House Massacre II do the exact opposite. Then again, nobody in Sorority House Massacre II appears to be that smart. For one thing, they’re all in their 30s and they have yet to graduate college. Trust me, I wish I could have stayed in college forever but, at some point, you really do have to either graduate or drop out. Tuition’s not cheap.
Anyway, Sorority House Massacre II is one of those movies that just amuses me to death. There’s absolutely nothing subtle about it. It’s such a blatant exploitation film that you can’t help but admire it for not pretending to be something that it isn’t. (At the same time, it’s rather tame when compared to the movies that we’re used to today. Whenever someone is killed, obviously fake blood is squirted on a wall.) This may be a stupid movie but it’s very sincere in its stupidity and there’s something to be said for that.
Add to that, Peter Spellos is memorably weird as Orville. The way he delivers his lines makes Orville into the neighbor that everyone would dread having next door. In the end, though, it’s a good thing that Orville was there.
Finally, there is one surprisingly effective moment. The movie starts with the “final girl” huddled in a dark room, begging the unseen killer to remember who they are. The movie then flashes back to that morning, with the girls standing in front of the house. The abrupt cut from darkness to the bright and sunny morning is surprisingly effective and feels almost dream-like. Though one gets the feeling it was probably unintentional, it’s still works far better than you’d expect.
For tonight’s televised horror, we have another classic episode of the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology series, Thriller!
In this creepy and atmospheric episode, a newlywed (Nancy Kelly) and her cat attempt to get through a stormy night in an isolated house. But are they really alone?
Through the Shattered Lens 