Another Halloween has come and gone and with it, another Horrorthon. Thank you to everyone who read and commented this month! We hope you have had a wonderful October and that you’re November brings you much to be thankful for!
And remember, just because you didn’t see the Great Pumpkin this year, doesn’t mean that he won’t be there for you next October. I think Linus can explain it best:
To all of our readers and from all of your friends at the Shattered Lens, thank you.
And to ABC: BRING BACK IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN! It’s an American tradition!
Well, Halloween is nearly over and so is Horrorthon. Here’s is our final episode of televised horror for 2020. It’s also the final episode of FreakyLinks!
In this episode, Ethan Embry and the team try to prove that a murder was actually a supernatural occurrence. Their efforts are recorded for a true crime television show. The mockumentary approach is reminiscent of The Blair With Project, which was done by the same people who were behind FreakyLinks. So, there you go!
It’s too bad that there was never a Baywatch Nights/FreakyLinks cross-over.
Oh well. This episode aired on June 22nd, 2001 and it brought to an end the story of Derek Barnes. Enjoy the show, everyone! Happy Halloween!
“Hey, did I mention that I recently watched Victor Crowley as a part of the Last Drive-In on Shudder?”
“Who’s Victor Crowley?”
“It’s a movie! About a killer named …. well, Victor Crowley. He’s played by Kane Hodder and he kills people in the swamp in various gruesome ways.”
“Oh, is that the guy from the Hatchet films?”
“Yes, the same.”
“And aren’t those the slasher films that are really bad but you’re not supposed to care because they wink at the audience and acknowledge that the suck?”
“Yep, exactly. Victor Crowley is the latest installment in the Hatchet series. It came out in 2017. An airplane crashes in a swamp. All of the passengers are in some way connected to the previous Hatchet films. Victor kills them all one-by-one.”
“Was it any good?”
“I personally didn’t care much for it.”
“What as wrong with it?”
“It took forever for the action to actually get going and the humor often felt forced, even by the standards of the Hatchet films. Some of the deaths were creative but since the characters were all pretty much just cardboard figures, it was hard to really care about it. Kane Hodder was an imposing killer, though. He’s definitely the best thing about the film.”
“I like Kane Hodder.”
“Me too. It’s funny. He’s always killing people but he seems like such a nice guy in real life. To be honet, the best thing about watching Victor Crowley on The Last Drive-In was that Joe Bob Briggs would interrupt every few minutes and share his thoughts on the film. Joe Bob, I should mention, liked the film far more than I did.”
“So, do you or do you not recommend Victor Crowley?”
“Well, it’s funny. I didn’t like it but I can understand why some people do like it. Because it’s over-the-top and intentionally silly and it doesn’t make any apologies for being what it is. It’s kind of like the slasher version of a good Lifetime film. So, I can’t really sit here and totally trash the film. It wasn’t for me but if you’re a fan of the Hatchet movies, it’ll give you exactly what you’re expecting — i.e., blood, humor, and Kane Hodder ripping off Felissa Rose’s arm.”
Earlier today, when I saw that Lisa had posted a video of the infamous 1938 radio version of The War of the Worlds, it brought back memories of how much the first film version of War of the Worlds freaked me out.
I can’t remember how old I was when I first saw the 1953 version of War of the Worlds. I think I must have been 10 or maybe 11. I could have even been 9, I’m not sure. I came across the original War of the Worlds at Blockbuster and begged my Dad to rent it for me because, back then, I was into anything that looked like it involved an alien invasion. I watched it that night and I have no shame in admitting that it totally freaked me out.
I knew that the aliens were the bad guys but nothing prepared me for the scene where the three men approached the alien ship while waving a white flag and shouting that they came in peace. The Martians took one look at them and…
And then there was the scene where the priest approached the aliens while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. The Martians took one look at him and…
Today, everyone makes jokes about the scene where the military tries to nuke the aliens and then casually brushes the nuclear fallout off of their jackets. Yes, that’s definitely not something that you want to try in real life but, when I first saw the movie, the only thing registered with me was that they dropped the greatest weapon known to man on the aliens and…
IT DIDN’T WORK!
When the Martians attacked all of the great cities of the world, they destroyed every famous landmark that they saw and they set the template for every Roland Emmerich film that would follow. But for me, all that mattered was that they destroyed London, the city that I was looking forward to visiting in the summer.
Another scene that people tend to poke fun at is everyone gathering in the church and praying. H.G. Wells was a noted skeptic when it came to religion so he probably would not have cared for that scene. But when I first watched the movie, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the world was on fire and the only thing that could stop the aliens were germs. Mankind’s weapons were useless. We were doomed. In the end, only nature could save the world.
I’ve rewatched War of the Worlds several times since then and it holds up well. It may no longer freak me out but it still gets to me every time. It’s still one of the best alien invasion films ever made and it still gets to me whenever I hear, “Everyone knows what a white flag means!” No, they don’t.
Actually, I might have to watch it again, tonight.
Instead of reviewing an IF game today, I decided to instead share what I consider to be one of the greatest video game opening scenes of all time.
I know people who still play Silent Hill just for the opening alone. Though it may look primitive compared to what we’re used to today, this game really blew everyone’s mind when it first came out in 1999. This is the game that showed a generation just how good a game could be. The opening not only set the mood but also let us know that there was more to Silent Hill than just walking down streets and shooting monsters. This was a game that told a comple story. That’s something that we take for granted now but, at the time, Silent Hill was revolutionary.
The score was composed by Akira Yamaoka. He was influenced by Angelo Badalamenti’s work for David Lynch.
Happy Halloween! I’ve really enjoyed participating in this year’s Horrorthon and I look forward to doing it all over again next year!
Before I say anything else, I have a confession to make. I read this book really quickly. I mean, I basically sat down, and skimmed over every page and didn’t write out a single note about the book.
Why was I reading it so quickly? Bad Moonlight is a book that I ordered off of Amazon last month with the intention of reviewing it for October but then I changed my mind. As often happens, I ended up running behind and, with Halloween approaching, I decided to set aside all of the Stine books that I hadn’t yet read and reviewed because I wanted to review a different (and, to be perfectly honest, adult) horror novel for Halloween.
Unfortunately, the book that I was planning on reivewing turned out to be really bad, despite the fact that it was co-written by one of my favorite filmmakers. I didn’t feel like getting all negative on Halloween, especially when it would involve being negative about a filmmaker who I adore and who is no longer with us and whose legacy pretty much defines modern horror. So I decided to put off reviewing that book (I’ll write about it in November). Needing something for today, I grabbed R.L. Stine’s Bad Moonlight and I quickly read it. Fortunately, R.L. Stine wrote books that are pretty much designed to be a quick read.
Bad Moonlight was first published in 1994. It tells the story of Danielle. Danielle is 18 but, in a rather creepy aside, we’re told that she looks like she’s closer to 12 because she’s not as developed as the typical 18 year-old. She’s the lead singer in a band. The band’s struggling but at least they have a totally hot roadie named Kit. Anyway, one night, Danielle is inspired to write a song called Bad Moonlight and then she bites Kit’s lower lip until it bleeds. The band’s fans love the new song and Danielle goes onto write several other songs that all deal with moonlight. She also writes a song that may or may not be about the death of Joey, “the sound guy.” Joey was murdered but who killed him? Everyone thinks it was Danielle, mostly because Danielle is always having these weird hallucinations. Since this is a Stine book, Danielle is also an orphan with a mysterious background. She lives with her Aunt Margaret and she sees a psychiatrist named Dr. Moore. Dr. Moore likes to hypnotize her. That’s never a good sign.
Anyway, you can probably guess, just based on the title, that this book has to do with werewolves and a big conspiracy to make Danielle into a werewolf bride. It’s actually kind of a fun book, because you can tell that Stine actually wanted to focus on all of the band melodrama but, because he’s R. L. Stine, he also had to toss in a bunch of werewolves. The effort to bring the band drama and the werewolf mythos together is a valiant one and it kind of comes out of nowhere and you have to appreciate just how weird Stine allows things to get. It’s an entertainingly silly book.
If nothing else, it shows how strange the world can look when it’s illuminated by …. BAD MOONLIGHT!
Dylan O’Brien is one of those actors that I’ll run to watch anything they’re in. I did so for 2017’s American Assassin, and have been making my way through MTV’s Teen Wolf. The guy oozes charisma, so when I found out his latest film, Love and Monsters, was available both in theatres and on Demand, I scooped it up without blinking. It’s kind of ironic that both he and his Teen Wolf co star, Tyler Posey, both have films this month (Posey is in Alone, also on demand) where their characters are caught up in apocalyptic nightmares.
Love and Monsters is a lighthearted monster film about stepping out of one’s shell, making some mistakes and growing along the way. O’Brien carries the film with humor and action, along with help from the supporting cast. It’s still a monster story, but it’s one just about anyone but the youngest of viewers can watch (and even then, it should be okay).
Sometimes, you just have to come out of your shell, which really isn’t easy to do when the world is suddenly populated with giant creatures. Joel (Dylan O’Brien, American Assassin) loves Aimee (Jessica Henwick , Underwater), but they happen to be separated in underground colonies about 90 miles from each other. Everyone manages to survive in their own way, and going up to the surface is particularly dangerous when everything wants to eat you. Joel does the small work around the underground bunker he’s in – making Minestrone, cleaning up the place – because he can’t handle the monsters outside.. When Joel decides to make the trek to reach Aimee, he has to learn how to survive in a world where everything wants to eat you. Befriended by a dog, Joel meets some friends along the way. Love and Monsters is a near perfect fit for the post Quarantine world. It speaks of isolation, communication over distances, while still hitting some themes on taking some risks (calculated, when possible), and learning to trust one’s instincts.
Joel (Dylan O’Brien) and Boy (Hero the Dog) navigate the unknown in Love and Monsters.
The cast for Love and Monsters is so nice. In addition to O’Brien and Henwick, we have a pair of Marvel Alumni in Michael Rooker (Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy), and Ariana Greenblatt (Little Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War) as Clyde and Minnow, respectively. They help to add to the comedy that O’Brien’s already offering.
I think what surprised me the most about Love and Monsters was the look of the monsters themselves. I was expecting something more along the lines of your typical Syfy channel movie fare. The CGI and monster effects in Love and Monsters are pretty good. I would have liked to have seen more monsters, but I really enjoyed it what was offered. Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp also get some kudos for the soundtrack, having worked with Wes Craven and Guillermo Del Toro in the past. The theme for Love and Monsters has a pinch of Hellboy to it, and fits well to Joel and Boy’s (Hero the Dog) adventures.
If there are any problems with the film, I guess it would be that it moves a little faster than anticipated. That’s hardly a complaint. At about an hour and 50 minutes, it moves somewhat fast. Additionally, if anyone’s expecting a full fledged horror film, they might be a bit disappointed. It’s a comedy first, with monsters. As long as you’re not expecting serious horror, it’s great, but the film does have it’s moments of little jumpscares. There’s also the notion that if you’ve already watched How to Train Your Dragon or Zombieland, Love and Monsters might not feel entirely new. It does, however, manage to take what’s going in the world right now with social distancing and reference it without directly saying it has anything to do with it. I feel audiences might relate to Joel’s isolation from that aspect, and his journey based on any trial we’ve ever gone through in learning a new skill or stepping outside of our comfort zones.
Love and Monsters is a cute surprise of a film that might have you chuckling more than jumping around in your seat, but that’s okay. At least it’s entertaining. I really wouldn’t mind a sequel to this.
Did you know that in 1938, the same year that they horrified America with their production of The War Of The Worlds, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater did a radio version of Dracula?
Check out this amazing cast list:
Orson Welles – Dracula/Dr. Arthur Seward
George Coulouris- Jonathan Harker
Ray Collins – Russian Captain
Karl Swenson – The Mate
Elizabeth Fuller – Lucy Westenra
Martin Gabel – Professor Van Helsing
Agnes Moorehead – Mina Harker
Coulouris, Collins, and Moorehead would, of course, all go one to appear with Orson Welles in Citizen Kane.
And now, we are proud to present, for your listening pleasure …. DRACULA!
Dylan O’Brien is one of those actors that I’ll run to watch anything they’re in. I did so for 2017’s American Assassin, and have been making my way through MTV’s Teen Wolf. The guy oozes charisma, so when I found out his latest film, Love and Monsters, was available both in theatres and on Demand, I scooped it up without blinking. It’s kind of ironic that both he and his Teen Wolf co star, Tyler Posey, both have films this month (Posey is in Alone, also on demand) where their characters are caught up in apocalyptic nightmares.
Through the Shattered Lens 