Horror Hound Countdown Day #4

Halloween: 25 Years of Terror

(2006)

Halloween is probably the most played out movie of them all 'round this time of year, so I decided to take a little different route. Instead of watching the 1978 classic, I watched Halloween 25 Years of Terror; a documentary about the entire series of films called. I had been thinking about buying this for a while and found it the other day at the record store (yes, I know it's lame that I call it the "record store") in a double pack with Halloween for $19.99. I take it up to the counter and find out that there's a buy one get one free deal going on. So, I bought Slither too. And then on top of everything else, the whole mess of DVDs rang up as costing $14.99! I have to say, though, that this documentary would have been worth the $19.99 on its own.

Originally intended as a convention video, the documentary contains a lot of footage from the 25th anniversary "Return to Haddonfield" convention where thousands of Halloween fans from around the world converged on Pasadena, CA (the filming location of the fictional Haddonfield) to schmooze wi th other fans and franchise celebs. Sensing that they had much more on their hands than a simple souvineer for the attendees, the producers cobbled together what is the definitive overview of the series. With brand new interviews from the stars, directors and other sundry film people, no stone is left unturned from part one all the way through Ressurrection.

Probably the coolest feature of the disc (and, in fact, the reason I bought it) is Sean Clark's contribution, Horror's Hallowed Grounds; wherein he takes the viewer on a tour of the major shooting locations from the original film. Clark was at the last convention where he screened the Halloween episode of the show and it was so much fun that I really felt like it was something I needed to support. Shot with a good mix of humor and fanboy awe, it's a blast to watch and leaves you wanting to see it done with more movies (he's done scads of others in print, find the links at the myspace page below). It's a pretty cool concept and one that I hope he's able to parlay into an ongoing series.

Video Goodness!

Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Myspace

Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Panel at TX Fearfest

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Horror Hound Countdown Day #3

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

(1974)

For genre fans, one of the biggest attendees at the convention this November will be Gunnar Hansen. For those not in the know, Hansen played the role of Leatherface in the original version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and, outside of that, never really had any other major film credits to speak of. Sure he did a few horror cameos and such but nothing even approaching the magnitude of playing the Stihl wielding maniac from this 1974 classick. As a side note; I find it completely hilarious is the fact that thes guy who played Leatherface looks exactly like my dad. So I can't wait to get a pic with him in November!

There's not much that I can say about this movie that hasn't been said before (and more eloquently). It is disturbing, gritty and leaves you feeling hollow at the end. The major players in the film are pretty amazing, especially the manical family that lure the young adults to their den of dismemberment. I mean, they pretty much set up the template for all homicidal hillbillies that came after them. Of course, Hansen pulls off Leatherface so well that I half expect him to be a tad bit 'tarded when I meet him come November. Jim Siedow is the perfect comic foil for Edwin Neal's "Hitchhiker" character. And, of course, John Dugan (also appearing at the Horror Hound Weekend) plays it straight and practically motionless as the decomposing patriarch of the family "Grandpa."

The best acting of all, however, comes from Marilyn Burns. Make no mistake. No other woman before or since has conveyed terror more believably on screen. It's not just a couple of shrieks here and there either. It is a prolonged, agonizing fright that builds and builds to the point where she is less a human being and more a frightened animal fueled by adrenaline and a natural flight instinct. It's beautiful and horrifying at the same time.

I can't imagine that very many of you haven't seen this one, but if you haven't... you should be ashamed. Especially if you've seen the remake excreted a few years back by Michael Bay and company. See the real deal. You're not likely to see a more horrifying film anytime soon.

Video Goodness!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Trailer

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Intro

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Hitchhiker Scene

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Dinner Scene

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Horror Hound Countdown Day #2

Summer School

(1987)

Inexplicably, in the pecking order of Horror Hound Weekend celebrities, Shawnee Smith comes in second to John Landis as far as star power goes. I can only imagine that having breasts goes a long way in boosting your rating at a nerdfest such as this. Shawnee Smith is probably best known for her role in the Saw movies. I think that she's been in all of them so far, but I could be wrong. Honestly, after seeing that the first one (which is considered by many to be the only good one) was a steaming dookie loaf I couldn't be bothered with any of the rest.

In my mind, Ms. Smith will always be the dumb receptionist from Becker, but that's not to say that she didn't make some appearances in some pretty decent feature films (even if she was just a tertiary character). While she appeared in remakes of The Blob and Carnival of Souls, my favorite film that she appeared in wasn't a horror film at all, but a high school comedy.

In Summer School Shawnee Smith is part of a pretty good ensemble of teen outcasts that antagonize Mark Harmon's as the comic foil. In some ways, they are the anti-Breakfast Club. Sure they represent most of the teen movie stereotypes; there's a nerd, a jock, a duo of knuckle headed punks, and a foreign exchange student, but here, despite their respective positions in the high school hierarchy, they are all misfits and failures forced to give up their summer to make up lost English credits. They start out with that strong bond and learn quickly that together they can bully the well-meaning substitute to do their bidding.

Summer School, of course, was one of the first major releases to star Mark Harmon and, despite his dearth of recent success, it's obvious why he was the "it" guy for at least a fleeting moment. Even in this inconsequential role, he is completely charismatic and charming. Harmon plays Freddie Shoop, a gym teacher who gets railroaded into teaching summer English. He's a jovial, doormat of a man that wants to be liked by everyone and that's exactly what gets him in trouble with the group of students he is put in charge of.

Summer School features two of the most original character ever to appear in a high school comedy. Dave and "Chainsaw" are a couple of horror-punks that delight in being generally disruptive, but get really nasty with an arsenal of prosthetic gore effects and buckets of blood. Of course, this all culminates in a scene of faux classroom carnage that would never pass in these post-Columbine days, but was good clean fun back int he late 80s.

Back in the day I loved this movie, but watching it again recently I realize that it has lost a little bit of its lustre for me. Honestly, it's just a lot more corny than I remembered it being. It's very broad and built to appeal to an impressionable middle schooler. And in my case, it succeeded. I'm gonna pass this one on to my middle school aged nephews to see what they think.

Video Goodness!

Summer School - School Room Massacre Scene

Summer School - Classic "Tension Breaker" Scene

Bizarre, Homemade Mark Harmon Tribute Montage

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Gettin' My Nerd On II: Electric Boogaloo!

It's been a long time since I last posted, but the second Indianapolis HorrorHound Weekend is quickly approaching and this time around me and the boys are gonna do it up right. We're not just gonna hit it up one day, but we've got weekend passes baby, plus reservations in the very hotel that the con is going down at. Honestly, I'm pretty friggin' excited and thought that I'd attempt to watch a horror film that's in some way related to the convention everyday until the 16th. 20 days... 20 movies. Hit up Blockbuster and you can play along!

Horror Hound Countdown Day #1

An American Werewolf in London
(1981)

Probably the biggest name to be added to the guest list for this November's convention is John Landis. Honestly, that's a pretty amazing feat considering he's most well known as a comedic director. Kentucky Fried Movie, Three Amigos, Spies Like Us, Animal House, Coming to America, and The Blues Brothers are all classics. But his one, big horror feature, An American Werewolf in London, really blew the genre wide open and set the gold standard for fright films in the 80s. Pretty impressive.

When I was a kid, this one was on HBO all the time and it seemed like I watched it from start to finish each and every airing. That's especially bizarre considering the significant amount of gore and sexual content in the film (one of the two major transformation scenes takes place in a porno theater!). But those were different times, you know. To give you an idea of just how impressionable I was at the time, I had this puffy jacket and a backpack that I wore all the time because I thought it was like the one worn by the main character David Kessler (David Naughton). Weird. While most kids were looking up to Michael Knight and B.A. Baracus I was idolizing the tragic hero of a hard R rated horror film.

I loved everything about the movie, but I was especially nuts about that amazing transformation scene. It was that scene that led to me getting into make-up and special effects. From there I moved on to discover the legendary Dick Smith, the splatter films of Tom Savini, but, in the beginning, it was Rick Baker's groundbreaking and Oscar winning effects in An American Werewolf in London that got my juices flowing and made me a genre fan for life.

As I look back at the movie, I am amazed at how well it holds up. Even though it's been more than 25 years, the movie has aged amazingly well. More than anything else, I was surprised at how funny the film actually is. Painfully funny. Funny in a much darker and sadistic way than anything else of its time. I've heard that the critics didn't really know what to think of this movie when it came out and that really shouldn't come as a surprise. Landis was just ahead of the curve by about 20 or so years.

At the convention in November they're going to be screening a premier of the new documentary Beware the Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf in London. In addition to John Landis, the star of AWIL, David Naughton will also be in attendance. Honestly, I can't heap enough praise on this movie. It's easily in my top five of all time and if you haven't seen it start to finish, do so immediately.

Video Goodness!

An American Werewolf in London - Trailer

An American Werewolf in London - Japanese Trailer

An American Werewolf in London - Transformation Scene

Beware the Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf in London - Trailer

David Naughton in An Early Commercial - Dr. Pepper

>>> READ MORE ... you know you want to.