You can read the thing or LISTEN TO THE REELING HORROR MOVIE SPECIAL!
http://www.thecapstone.ua.
This thing was put together in about an hour, so the production quality isn't my favorite, but the genre allows it, I think. Just glad to be back with the show! It airs live today on 90.7-FM at 11am and 1 pm.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Horror movies for a Happy Halloween
By Ben Flanagan
Ben Around
October 31, 2008
What defines a horror movie?Something that scares us, right? Pretty plain and simple. Most of us reach for the clear classics that we can find in the horror section of our nearest video store, and that’s fine. But once we think a little harder about what gave us those uneasy, queasy feelings we couldn’t shake in the theater. We learn that some movies, no matter the genre, are simply horrifying. This Halloween, reach for the traditional titles for sure, but take a look at a few of these gems we may not think of every day as our run-of-the-mill, timeless horror films. While I’m at it, I can’t leave out the standards. Here’s what gives me the heebie-jeebies.
The End-All-Be-All:The Shining (1980) – Let me stress that nothing lights a candle to Stanley Kubrick’s masterful, horribly and beautifully unsettling adaptation of Stephen King’s book. While King purists scoffed at the loose rendering, I say fiddlesticks.With every slow turn we make with the Torrance family through the great,haunted halls of the Overlook Hotel, I’m both happily committed and psychologically terrified throughout this haunted odyssey. Nicholson’s crazed patriarch has maybe the single-most chilling movie conversation in the hotel bathroom with the former caretaker Delbert Grady, edging out a previous conversation old Jack had with Lloyd the Bartender. A true masterpiece in anygenre and just another notch Kubrick’s belt, this one is not only a must-see for the horror geeks out there who want a little friendly Friday night PTSD,it’s essential for those who just like the movies.
The Close Second:John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) – One of my first picks once I signed up for Netflix, director John Carpenter cemented himself as a horror pioneer in the early 80s with this one only to fizzle out with questionable projects and inconsistency. Carpenter scores here with grade-A performances from all of its cast members, especially the mega-bearded Kurt Russell (and a rare Wilford Brimley with no mustache!). Its wonderfully desolate Antarctic locale makes for a terrifying setting in this highly unique take on the genre where members of an American scientific research outpost in remote Antarctica find themselves terrorized by an extraterrestrial organism capable of assuming physical appearances of any of life forms it inhabits. Not unlike what you’d think a David Mamet horror script would resemble.
Painfully Obvious: When this holiday rolls around, most of us probably load up our Netflix queues after we Google “top horror movies ever” and get the regular list that’s dished out every single year, and rightfully so. John Carpenter’s“Halloween” (1978) set a gold standard in terms of how the rest of Hollywood chops up its teenagers. Tobe Hooper hurt my high school street-cred when I saw“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) late one night in the Ferguson Center theater. Did I run out like a girl? No, but I did think about it. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960) remains at the top of the heap if not only for Bernard Hermann’s wicked musical score. Elsewhere, you’ve got the Friday the 13thand “Nightmare of Elm Street” series that stretched from the 80s on into the90s, and at times they were even pretty good. The franchise names have stood the test of time better than the films, I’m afraid, but each follows the teen slasher formula closely enough to give you your money’s worth this time of year.
Romero of the Dead: While zombies don’t necessarily send my blood running cold, there’s a certain camp value they all embody that wouldn’t work anywhere else but the horror genre. Who nailed walking cadavers better than Romero, considered by many as the father of the zombie film. His iconic satire (as some like to call it since it portrays zombies aimlessly sauntering through a shopping mall, yuk-yuk) “Dawn of the Dead (1978)” delivers the chaos early on as all hell breaks loose and folks start chomping on each other’s brains from the word “go.” Before that,Romero had established himself with the disturbing and minimalistic “Night of the Living Dead” (1968). Years later,Romero returns to form with his much sillier “Day of the Dead” (1985). How you out-silly a zombie movie, I don’t know. I do know that director Zack Snyder paid a nice homage to Romero with the updated and even innovative remake of“Dawn” (2004), a rare, highly worthy remake.
Supernatural Scariness:David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), now an opera, will certainly gross you out if you’re a fan of bones not snapping on screen. Jeff Goldblum’s Brundlefly makeup will either haunt your sleep or make you cackle. We may never know who actually directed the haunted house classic Poltergeist (1982). Whether it was Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg, we can agree that whoever the hell it was scared our pants off with a PG-13 flick. Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) stands up as agenre masterwork where a frightening cat-and-mouse thriller where Sigourney Weaver’s spaceship crew gets picked off one-by-one by a terrifying space creature. "Event Horizon" (1997) is another creepy space-set contemporary release that falls into this and the underrated category.
Fun Times with Screaming:Mixing Christmas with frights, Joe Dante’s Gremlins (1984) works wonders for the kiddies this time of year or a few months later. Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice(1988) remains nearly flawless in term of overall surreal weirdness. Edgar Wright’s “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) gives more laughs than scares but serves as a formidable entry into the zombie canon. Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead 2” (1987) will never escape its well-earned cult status, and why should it. Bruce Campbell taking on an onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits out in the woods will live forever. Who says you can’t laugh and shriek?
Stephen King of the Castle:Sure, it’s expected and a bit corny, but this author handed us some doozies in his heyday, including a clown I’d like to have forgotten years ago from “It”(1990). Maybe my favorite King adaptation is Rob Reiner’s simple stalker movie “Misery”(1990), where Kathy Bates “heals” an ailing James Caan. But a few months ago, I finally caught David Cronenberg’s “The Dead Zone” (1983), where a young Christopher Walken gains psychic powers after a car crash, and it’s duking it out with Reiner’s gem.
Unconventional Scares:David Fincher’s serial killer masterpiece “Se7en” (1995) literally saw me checking my door locks over and over the night I first saw it. Without spoiling the surprise, once we meet the killer we’re under a brutal trance we knew was coming more than an hour beforehand.
While you’re all hyped on “The Dark Knight” please do not forget about director Christopher Nolan’s beautifully realized magician thriller “The Prestige” (2006), a disquieting tour-de-force that gets better every time I see it. Last year’s highly suspenseful bestpicture winner “No Country for Old Men” boasts one of contemporary film’s greatest supervillains ever with Javier Bardem’s hitman Chigurh, rocking a sinister death-stare I’d like not to see in person please.
The always creepy David Lynch served up his best and creepiest movie in “Mulholland Drive” (2001) where a chipper actress (Naomi Watts) arrives in Hollywood where she soon finds herself entangled in murder, intrigue, nightmares and confusion.
Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)” has some of the scariest images, sounds and situations I’ve ever seen in film, which is why it would be crime to leave it off of this list.The evil, man-made HAL 9000 compromises his crew’s mission, putting his astronaut colleagues in the worst danger imaginable. The lip-reading sequence is chilling stuff.
Finally, what’s a list without Woody Allen? It takes a lot to find this guy’s place on the list, but out of nearly forty movies, I got one. His horror film is “Shadows and Fog” (1992), a dark ode to German expressionism about a small town serial killer who murders his victims by strangulation. Pretty scary stuff from Mr. Annie Hall, huh?
Underrated Shockers:M. Night Shyamalan’s criminally dismissed thriller “The Village” (2002) will age well I think, once the snobs who claim to have figured out the twist early on admit their lies and their love for the film.
Francis Ford Coppola’s “BramStoker’s Dracula” (1992) shows us the once untouchable maestro mustered his strength again for a throwback adaptation to the horror classic, remembered by many only for Keanu Reeves’ “bad” British accent.
To me, “Rope” (1948) is one of Hitchcock’s finest efforts, not only technically, as we see two young men strangle their best friend “for fun” and hide the body during a dinner party.Filmed in one location with just a few edits, this remains an unsung classic.
Guilty Pleasures from Outer Space!: Two B-movie delights that don’t really make us feel guilty unless we love them for the wrong reasons. “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” (1988) and Edward D. Wood Jr.’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space” (1956) areperfect examples of when bad is painfully good.
HallNOween with The Great Big No tonight at the Mellow Mushroom: Dress yourself up and march down to the Mushroom where one of our favorite T-town bands will rock evening into a frenzy for a second straight year. This time, they'll be joined by Atlanta's Random Rabbit who will play in between GBN's three sets. I've had plenty of good times at this venue on Halloween night, where there have been some extremely creative costumes. Do your best (or worst) this year because there will be a cash prize for creativity. Rumor has it that there might be a few surprise musical guests joining the headliners, and based on the Mushroom's impressive performance thus far this fall, that's almost no surprise at all. BOO!
'Rocky Horror Picture Show' tonight at 9:30 p.m. at the Bama Theatre: Presented by Well That's Cool and the Pink Box Burlesque, everyone's favorite corset-donning cult classic will screen at the lovely Bama, hopefully sparking a rivalry with the folks up in Birmingham who do such a fine job. If there's one thing I learned in college, it's that people love their "Rocky Horror," which often astounds me. At a 90.7-Mallet Assembly joint screening at the Ferguson Center Theater last Halloween, I saw ROTC members in full-on drag at the show. Can't make that stuff up. Another Halloween event, another costume contest, so dress nice on your strange journey. EEK!
Hank Williams Jr. tonight at 8 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum: Joined by special guest James Otto, this raucous country crooner will light Coleman's stage up for what promises to be a hell of a party. Even if you can't quite get into the whole country music scene, ol' Hank Jr. will find a way to help you feel included at this concert that should be a knockout in terms of attendance. An extra pat on the back to University Programs for finally landing an act that makes total sense. For the naysayers, put your mask on and hit up your Halloween party - after all, there's always next year. MU-HA-HA-HA!
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