by Erin Nicole
Welcome to October on the Shattered Lens!
Here’s hoping this month finds you with joy, family, friends, fiends, ghouls, and ghosts!
Today is also the start of the Shattered Les’s annual horrorthon! Sit back, enjoy the reviews, the art, and the music videos, and have a great month of ghoulish fun!
by Erin Nicole
Since today is the birthday of John Carpenter, can you guess what the theme of the latest edition of Lisa Mare’s Favorite Grindhouse Trailers is going to be?
Enjoy!
Let’s get things started with the wonderfully grainy trailer for 1976’s Assault on Precinct 13! Though the film may have been intended as an homage to Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo, everything about the trailer screams grindhouse.
2. Halloween (1978)
Assault on Precinct 13 may not have set the box office on fire but it did help build Carpenter’s critical reputation. One fan of the film was the actress Angela Pleasence, who suggested to her father, Donald, that he accept Carpenter’s offer to play the role of Dr. Loomis in Carpenter’s next film. And that film, of course, was Halloween!
3. Escape From New York (1981)
Donald Pleasence returned to play the President in Escape from New York and, of course, Kurt Russell appeared in his first Carpenter feature film. (Russell had previously played Elvis in a Carpenter-directed television film.) Though the film may not have been an immediate hit in the United States, it was embraced in Europe and it led to an entire series of Italian films about people trying to escape New York.
4. The Thing (1982)
Carpenter and Russell reunited for The Thing, another film that underappreciated when first released but which has since become a classic.
5. They Live (1988)
They Live is one of Carpenter’s best films and certainly his most subversive. What may have seemed paranoid in 1988 feels prophetic today.
6. In The Mouth of Madness (1995)
Finally, in 1995, Carpenter proved himself to be one of the few directors to be able to capture the feel of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu stories on film. In The Mouth of Madness, like other Carpenter films, has been rewatched and reappraised over the years and is now widely recognized as a classic.
Happy birthday to the great John Carpenter!
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More 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 lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 74th birthday to one of this site’s patron saints, the great John Carpenter!
In honor of the man and his legacy, here are….
6 Shots From 6 John Carpenter Films
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976, dir by John Carpenter. DP: Douglas Knapp)
Halloween (1978, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cudney)
The Fog (1980, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cudney)
The Thing (1982, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cudney)
They Live (1988, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
Escape From L.A. (1996, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
Another Halloween has come and gone and with it, another Horrorthon. 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.
Happy Halloween!
Well, October is our biggest month of the year at the Shattered Lens. We spend 30 days waiting for Halloween and then when it arrives, it’s always a little hard to know how to react. I watched several horror movies. Val watched some movies about Arsene Lupin. Leonard reviewed a few movies. Case has got his super cool sick voice going. Jeff watched a documentary on mummies. Erin is watching the World Series.
Here’s a little of what Halloween was like here at the Shattered Lens:
https://twitter.com/ShootThePicture/status/1454883030804275205
https://twitter.com/ShootThePicture/status/1454893582888816649
That #704 means that Val has watched nearly a hundred more movies than I have this year I’m running behind! What have I been doing that’s been taking me away from my first love of movies?
Agck!
By this point, I was watching Psycho on TCM.
All in all, it’s been a good October here at the Shattered Lens. So, from our family to yours, Happy Halloween and to all a good night!
Happy Halloween everyone!
Well, as another horrorthon draws to a close, it’s time for another Shattered Lens tradition! Every Halloween, we share one of the greatest and most iconic horror films ever made. For your Halloween enjoyment, here is George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead!
(Be sure to read Arleigh’s equally famous review!)
To all of our readers
To all of our friends
To every ghoul and fiend out there,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE SHATTERED LENS!
May your Halloween bring you more candy than rocks and we hope you enjoy the last day of our annual horrorthon! Be safe, be sincere, and don’t forget the true meaning on Halloween!
by Erin Nicole
“The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”
Knock (Fredric Brown)
For today’s Halloween edition of Lisa’s Marie Favorite Grindhouse Trailers, I present to you, without comment, the trailers for my 12 favorite horror movies.
Happy Halloween!
2. Suspiria (1977)
3. A Field in England (2013)
4. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
5. Zombi 2 (1979)
6. The Exorcist (1973)
7. Halloween (1978)
8. Two Orphan Vampires (1996)
9. Near Dark (1987)
10. Scream and Scream Again (1970)
11. Horror of Dracula (1958)
12. Messiah of Evil (1973)
by Erin Nicole
Happy Halloween!
Through the Shattered Lens 