The artwork for the upcoming Scorpion Releasing 3-Disc Limited Edition of Dario Argento’s Opera is a thing of beauty.
Horror
Monday Blah’s
I woke up late this morning and that discombobulated the whole day. Ugh.
And it’s not like the weekend was super busy to make me exhausted so that I slept through the alarm. It was actually pretty lazy. I mostly just a lot of sat around and watched stuff.
Here are Some Things that Happened Over the Weekend:
– Saw Red at the theater.
– Drank some Lagunitas Brown Shugga’. It’s a damn fine beer.
– Started watching Penny Dreadful. So far, so good.
– Walked around the Lake.
– Took a nap!
– Watched Hell Fest. Mindless but fun.
– Watched The Strangers: Prey at Night. Annoyingly stupid at points.
– Did a very, very small amount of freelance work.
– Watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Amazing animation!
– Bought four hex bolts and Blueberry Cobbler Cheddar Cheese.
– Watched Crooked House. A fairly descent who-dunnit.
Thank goodness we had some sun on Saturday. Any break in the monotony of the dreary, rainy weather that has become the standard here is like a life line. We went from Dreary, Rainy Friday to Sunny Saturday to Cold, Gross, Rainy Sunday. Today was also cold and gross. Quadruple Ugh. I am over it!
Isn’t talking about the weather exciting?
Meanwhile … here is something pretty for you to purchase.
Waxworks Records has released CRUISING Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Score. It’s a 3-LP colored vinyl edition of the complete soundtrack to William Friedkin’s controversial 1980 movie. The package is designed by Aesthetic Apparatus and looks amazing. Get it!
Word on the street is that Arrow Video is going to be releasing Cruising on Blu-ray sometime in the near future. I am pretty pumped about that! Check out the trailer …
Intervention Needed!
So, what do you do when you have a potentially large tax bill looming over you? You order a stupidly expensive limited edition Blu-ray set from Germany, of course! 😀
Psycho Legacy Collection Deluxe Edition
World Premiere: Alfred Hitchcock’s classic uncut on Blu-Ray Disc for the first time + Psycho II, III, IV + remake + Bates Motel TV movie + full-length documentaries The Making of Psycho, Psycho Legacy & 78/52 on 8 Blu-Ray Discs including over 15 hours of bonus features + Audio Commentaries and 4×3 Retro Versions + large size 120 page book The Psycho Files by Tobias Hohmann (in German) + Din A1 Poster “Norman Bates” + 4 DIN A2 Posters + 6 Art Cards + Replicas of Sam Loomis’ Letter (English/German) + 25 sheets of “Bates Motel” notepaper and a “Do Not Disturb” door hanger. The edition is limited to 3,636 units.
Someone seriously needs to perform a Limited Edition Blu-ray Intervention. I’m outta control!
Four Days of Randomness
Random Things that have happened since Friday …
Re-watched The Private Eyes. It’s totally silly but totally filmed at Biltmore.
Speaking of …. I went to Biltmore and took in the new Vanderbilt House Party exhibit. It was really cool and the flower arrangements throughout the house were spectacular.
Finally watched Overlord. It’s B-Movie goodness and I enjoyed it!
Finally binged Bodyguard on Netflix and really dug it. The story didn’t go where I was expecting it to. Be sure to check it out.
And … Double Baconator Meal at Wendy’s! 😀
MonsterFest Wrap-Up
MonsterFest 2018 is now in the history books.
As always, we had a great time visiting Dr. Phibes and Co. There was lots of beer, cocktails, and tasty food. Saturday, we went on a boat trip to Cumberland Island and got to see Dolphins. That was super cool. That afternoon, Dr. Phibes and I went and saw the new Halloween movie. We thought it was aces! Don’t listen to the haters.
We also watched and seriously loved The Curious World of Christine McConnell (which is now streaming on Netflix). It’s so wonderfully weird and quirky. We laughed quite a bit.
How can you not love Rose (reanimated roadkill with lots of sass … and a nipple fetish)?
The drives down and back were quite annoying. It seems like you can’t go anywhere now-a-days without road construction and dumbass drivers making the trip long and frustrating. We did end up detouring on the way down (because of a wreck) and got to see some tiny BFE crossroads towns in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. It was cool because a lot of those little towns still had beautiful 100 year-old homes. I want a big, rambling, 100 year-old home (preferably with ghosts)!
Anyhoo …
MonsterFest 2018 Movies:
Halloween (1978)
The Changeling
Murder PartyÂ
Wonder Women
Cat People
Planet of the Vampires
The Devil’s Rain
The Colour of Blood (Thriller, S01E05)
Halloween (2018)
Near Dark
Insidious
The Skull
The Curious World of Christine McConnell (Season 1)
The Horror of Party Beach
AsylumÂ
The PsychopathÂ
The Mummy (1959)
High Hopes
The trailer for the new movie version of Pet Sematary dropped today … and it looks pretty damn fine! Pet Sematary is probably the most disturbing book I have ever read. So, imagine my disappointment when the 1989 film version turned out to be campy and not at all scary or disturbing. Mary Lambert (director) and Stephen King (who adapted his own book for the screenplay) dropped the ball BIG TIME. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I HATE what they put on film. Here’s hoping that Kevin Kölsch / Dennis Widmyer (directors) and Jeff Buhler (screenplay) give Pet Sematary some much needed big screen justice. We have to wait until April 2019 to find out though. Bummer.
Meanwhile [Horror Edition]
I am usually not one to be all excited for remakes (or reboots or re-imaginings or whatever the fuck you want to call them) … but I will say I am getting pretty pumped for the upcoming new take on Dario Argento‘s 1977 classic, Suspiria. Don’t let me down, Luca Guadagnino!
Hereditary [Quickie Thoughts]
Shortlegs and I caught Hereditary last weekend.
I really dug it. Take one messed up family and then mess it a little further through tragedy and maybe something more. I am not going to say much more than that because I don’t want to spoil any of the fun … because there are some genuinely surprising twists and turns. I want to go see this again because there is a lot to unpack.
As a Side Note:
Hereditary is another example of how expectations can ruin the movie-going experience for everyone. The audience we saw it with must have been expecting a “jump scare” marathon. You could feel the mood in the room change about 3/4 of the way through. People started getting restless, making noises, and laughing at things that should have been scary. The people that aren’t enjoying the movie ruin it for those of us who are really into it. It was a total repeat of my viewings of The VVitch and It Comes at Night (both great, unsettling horror movies released by A24 that don’t play well for mainstream audiences). I love that A24 is releasing more unconventional horror movies. I just wish the general public would catch on to this as well and leave anything with A24 before the title to us hardcore horror fans.
Spotted on QE …
I broke down (mainly because I was bored) and watched the reboot of Queer Eye on Netflix. The show was pretty fun … but what really caught my eye was the The Art and Making of Hannibal: The Television Series book prominently displayed on Joe’s bookshelf in the Below Average Joe episode. It’s a sweet book about one of the best shows ever to be televised. It caught Bryan Fuller’s eye as well. How fun. It’s nice to know Joe has great taste (pun not intended) in television.
MonsterFest is a Wrap
Four days and 16 movies later, MonsterFest 2017 is now in the history books.
Dr. Phibes and Co. traveled up here this year to a swank rental cabin. They checked in on Friday and we were off to the races with too much beer and junk food. And that was pretty much the weekend.
Beer. Junk Food. Movies. Hot Tub (thank you, rental cabin).
As always, it’s great to see Dr. Phibes and Co. It happens way too rarely. One day (hopefully) they will get the hell out of Florida and get back to the mountains.
MonsterFest 2017 Movies:
The Finals Girls
Night of the Creeps
Bubba Ho-Tep
Ouija: Origin of Evil (Don’t laugh. It’s Great!)
The Wicker Man (2016)
Rawhead Rex
Dreamscape
Blacula
Baby Driver (The Obligatory Non-Horror Offering)
Miracle Mile
Sugar Hill
Poltergeist (1982)
Hell Night
Dog Soldiers
Slither
Dead of Winter
Another One Gone
Well. Tobe Hopper has died. I have always liked his movies with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre being in my Top Five Horror Movies of All Time.
George Romero died this year as well.
Getting older sucks. You get to watch all the people you admire die. I am going to be a wreck for months if/when something happens to Stephen King.
It Comes …
Oh yes … I am going to be all over this when it comes out.
Another Year … Another MonsterFest!
The ending of October means that another MonsterFest in the wilds of North Florida has come and gone. Dr. Phibes and Co. hosted an excellent few days away … as always. We seem to be getting lazier and lazier about getting out of their house … but that’s fine by me. Beer + Horror Movies + Good Friends = Happy Chas.
Here’s what we watched …
“The Silent Scream” (Hammer House of Horror)
“Grizzly”
“Island of Lost Souls”
“Cabin in the Woods”
“Final Destination 5”
“Vampire Circus”
“Trick ‘R Treat”
“Jaws”
“The Fog” (1980)
“The Mask of Fu Manchu”
“Murders in the Zoo”
“The Walking Dead” Season Three, Episode Three
“Le Strega” (Thriller)
“King Nine Will Not Return” (The Twilight Zone)
“The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires”
“The Old Dark House” (1932)
“Devil”
“The Zanti Misfits” (The Outer Limits)
“What’s the Matter with Helen”
“The Children of the Full Moon” (Hammer House of Horror)
I gotta say I was totally taken with “Grizzly.” It’s a total “Jaws” rip off but had enough cheese factor going on to make it tons of fun. And I am totally jealous of Dr. Phibes copy of the “Universal Cult Horror Collection” that we watched “Murders in the Zoo” out of. It’s OOP and costs a pretty penny now. Bummer!