I love C.H.U.D. not just because it’s one of those rare 80s gems that are so cheesy it’s fun but because of one thing, the CHUDs. Yes, they are hideous mutated monsters that live down in the sewers of New York and attack people for food. However, after watching this movie and hearing what CHUD really stands for (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers). I am going to state something that many people might not agree with but these CHUDs are actually not the real bad guys in this movie and in fact, I would go further to say that the CHUDs are actually the victims in this film. Perhaps I might be stating the obvious but who knows.
For the first half of the movie the CHUDs are portrayed as monsters that only come to the surface to attack and kill civilians for food. I do agree that this is a very monstrous act but if the CHUDs were really mutated people, then the mutations would render the person back to his primitive self where they would do anything to stay alive. They are hideous (but curiously adorable) and they are highly radioactive. With these things all thrown together you would think that the CHUDs are the real monsters but after the first half of the movie we find out otherwise.
Early on in the movie we learn that there are large colonies of people living under New York and these people are homeless people. We are also told that the CHUDs are really mutated homeless people who have been exposed to radioactive waste because a company was too careless to dispose of the waste properly. Right there should be all the proof you need that the CHUDs are nothing more than poor people who have been wrongfully poisoned. Hell, if you look at the tagline of C.H.U.D. it states, “They’re not staying down there anymore.” This shows that there might be some kind of revolt against those who live on the surface.
The real villain in this movie is man, humans or more importantly the company that dumped all the toxic waste into the sewer. The CHUDs are just the poor people that happened to get in the way of things when it happened and they were hideously mutated. If you saw my post about the soundtrack of the movie you’ll notice that the theme song is very low key and depressing, almost as though it’s in mourn… mourning for the CHUDs (click here to read it).
I would argue that the CHUDs are a metaphor for the homeless and how ‘normal people’ perceive them as. I for one can vouch for this, normally when I see a homeless man begging for change I walk by them without even looking at them because to me they are filthy and they choose to stay on the streets. I have seen many homeless people get jobs and I know plenty of places in Chicago that help homeless people find employment. However, the CHUDs are our vision of a homeless person; ugly, disgusting, hideous and dangerous. They stand for the uprising of the indigent and homeless.
Hopefully, this post might make you look at the movie a tad differently and see what its hidden meanings are. Also, I always thought the CHUDs were not the main villains and I stand by that remake. To me, the CHUDs are just the poor people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time, which is why I think that they are more or less an anti-hero rather than a villain.
I love YouTube because you can find some really awesome fan videos on there, a lot of people make splice up trailers, tribute videos and homemade music videos. I already did a post showcasing all the videos that take a horror movie and turn it into a family movie and vise versa. (Click here to view it) This time around I want to showcase some awesome horror movie tributes that I came across. See, I recently logged into my YouTube account and noticed that I had so many videos that I don’t remember favoriting. Well, I went through a couple of them and some recommended to me and found the best.
Now, I know there are a lot of them that I am probably forgetting and most of the good ones I purposely left out because I’m picky when it comes to horror tributes videos. I do not think that The Terminator is horror, War of the Worlds is not a horror and neither is Ghostbusters. To me, in order to make a good horror movie tribute you have to incorporate real horror movies into them. I know, I know, I am very picky but I did manage to find some really good tributes that I think you should check out.
This was one of the best tributes set to 'Thriller' I've seen.
Hey folks, this is just a quick post reminding all my readers that I am nominated for the Mr. Horror Blogosphere in the contest hosted by Zombie’s Don’t Run. I am up against a lot of really good blogs out there and some of which I haven’t read or heard of until now. Anyway, if you love The Paradise of Horror and you support it, why not go over there and vote for me. It would be very appreciated. Hell, if you get there and you want to vote for somebody else… that’s fine by me. Either way, it’s good for all us blogs out there.
The voting area is at the website linked above and it's at the top right hand corner of the page.
And yes, I know the title of this post seems a little pretentious but it got your attention, which is what I wanted. I can assure you, I am not saying that I am better than all the other blogs out there.
The other night I watched Killer Klowns from Outer Space; a movie that has always been with since I could remember and it’s one of the wackiest, funniest, cheesiest films I had ever seen. However, after watching it again I noticed one scene in particular that was really frightening and I remember thinking to myself that this scene reminds me of John Wayne Gacy. First let me describe the scene to you:
The scene takes place outside of Big Top Burger where a large overweight Klown appears. Inside, there is a family having dinner and youngest sister is bored. The young girl looks outside and sees the Klown on a spring rider waving ‘hi’ to her. She smiles waves back to him. The Klown then begins to play ‘peek-a-boo’ and she plays along with him. The Klown then gets off the spring rider and begins to gesture with his finger to come to him. The next shot is of the family eating dinner while the camera pans to reveal that the little girl is missing. As the clown is gesturing the girl to come over to him, he is hiding a large heavy mallet behind his back. As the girl slowly approaches him, her mom steps in and grabs her and says, “Back here young lady, you’re not going anywhere till you finish your food.” The Klown then growls in anger.
What makes this scene so frightening is seeing a monstrous clown luring a little girl outside so that he can hit her on the head and eat her. The little girl is unaware of his motives and to her; the clown is there just to make her laugh. From her perspective, since she is too young, the clown looks normal with a big red smile, bright clothes and big red nose. What adds to the tension is the score by John Massari. It mostly a slow increasing choir (or synth choir) as the young girl makes her journey towards the Klown. The score is surreal and almost frightening, it forebodes danger and evokes an uncomfortable emotion.
As I said before, and I am not sure whether this is their intention or not but, this scene parallels a real life incident where a ‘clown’ lured unsuspecting victims to their deaths: John Wayne Gacy. It’s uncanny how the scene can be interpreted as being inspired by John Gacy.
This is probably the only scary scene in the whole movie, while the rest is pure sci-fi fun. With that, I will leave you with this image… the image of defeat, the image of anger and the image of WTF?
As many of you know, I find great blogs on a daily basis and I have seen a lot of great blogs out there but some blogs just stand out more than others. I’m not saying that the quality of the work is better than all the rest but I think, in terms of design, these blogs stand out among all the rest. I also want to note that I am not discouraging or making fun of any other horror blogs out there who don’t have the money or the talent to get a good page designer. I just came across these blogs and said, “Wow, those are really well made blogs.” My goal is not to offend people.
With that said, here is the list of blogs that I think have really outdid their blog layout design… in no particular order either.
Kindertrauma I love this site because on first glance it looks like it’s a nice little blog about the days of growing up and playing outside. It has a lovely pink background, a chalkboard and even little letter bocks for the categories. It looks so innocent until you start reading it and you realize that this site is meant to tap into your deepest childhood fears and provoke them. I have to thank Lance Vaughan for effectively tricking my eye but also for creating a very cool blog layout.
Attack from Planet B When you first look at this blog you will notice that the name and it’s lettering is very reminiscent of 50s b-movie cinema and low budget sci-fi films. That’s the whole theme of this blog is to capture that essence again. It combines those great serial looking faces with a very unique style of 50s comic book lettering. The colors all seem as though they are washed out and vintage and it just adds to that retro feel. Of course this is yet another blog on Wordpress. Adam Akers did a great job with this setup. I am sure that once the blog starts hitting it big, it will only further it’s appeal.
Lost Highway Now we get to my personal favorite blog of them all. Steve, like Adam, designed his own webpage. When you first look at Lost Highway you will notice that the background looks dirty, crumpled, raw and grainy and then you realize that this will be a fun read. The theme to this blog is “a detour through b-movies and cult films” so like any good roadmap you’d expect road signs, attractions, maybe a little comic book feel to it and maybe some twists and turns. Well, this blog as all that and more. Each film has it’s own little ‘roadside attraction’ and is dated on nifty little route plaque. You’ll even notice the pictures have their own commentary.
Classic-Horror Ah yes, much like Lost Highway, this blog really utilizes the older vintage look to its advantage. The blog’s name and letting reflects the earlier age of horror when titles were shown in big bold letters and looked as though they were markered in. The blog is beautifully colored and I really enjoy the paper creases that the banner and the bottom have. It has a great image of a zombie lunging out towards you, which is very reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead.
Again, I want to reiterate on something: these are just the blogs that I think have the best layout and the best theme. I’m not saying they are THE BEST blogs out there, nor am I saying that they are better than anybody else. I am one for website design and I love it when a blog can reflect their theme and I understand there are people out there that don’t have the tools or the money to afford a designer. All blogs are equal in my opinion.
Now first of all, this is not really a review but rather a few thoughts that I have on The Raft. I might do a Creepshow 2 review later on down the road. First off, when I was younger I thought this was the best segment by far and I would always be freaked out by the way the tar thing ate people. Hell, we had a campground that had a raft like that out in the lake and I was frightened to go out there because I thought that think would kill me. It kind of rode the coattails of Jaws in making me a little scared of the water. Now, when I see it, it reminds me of those emotions that I felt and like most people who have seen Creepshow 2 this is my favorite segment in the whole movie (second being Old Chief Wooden Head and third being The Hitchhiker).
The story starts off with the kids in the car, smoking weed and laughing about the adventures yet to come. It’s totally 80s and you can really tell by the hair, the clothing and the music blasting on the radio. And once the group finally gets to the raft and one of the guys notices it eating a duck and swimming towards them, that’s where the bad acting and dialogue come in. Oh boy, this is 80s cheese at its best. Of course, with a film like this and given the year it was made in, most people can forgive it for it’s bad acting because the film is a little campy at times.
Now, when we finally do see this tar thing eat people, I was freaked out… when I was younger. You see the tar cover the girl in all its sloppy, slimy glory and you can see it melt the skin off of her body. It was so graphic and yet there was little bloodshed. Back then; I just imagine the burning sensation. As I look at it now and I notice how the monster eats people (by shooting it’s tendrils up the persons leg or arm and grabbing them into it’s soupy body) it reminds me so much of the ’88 version of The Blob. This was pre ’88 Blob too so it was pretty cool to see it. That’s another thing I want to bring up; when you see the tendrils pierce through the people’s leg I could feel my muscles tightening.
Of course the ending is the big slap in the balls when the monster does get the survivor man and we notice the sign that says no swimming. I face-palmed myself when I was younger. I screamed, “C’mon on!! All you had to do was look a little to your side!” My overall impression of the movie, now, is it’s still watchable and for kids it can be pretty scary ‘cause this is the most intense segment in the whole film. I forgot who said this but they also wanted to see it happen for The Crate from the original Creepshow, but they wanted to see a prequel or a feature-length movie of The Raft. I would love to see that too, provided that they don’t use CGI.
A few months ago I contacted Brian Soloman of Vault of Horror asking if I could participate in the Cyber Horror Awards. This was during the beginning stages of my blog so it was a while ago and this was before I really knew about him or his blog. Well, when I got the email I was thrilled that he still remembered (partially because I had forgot about the awards and I asked him if I was one of the voters.) Well, I did my part and I am pleased to have been a part of it because not only did I have a change to state my votes but also because it indirectly led me to some cool horror blogs.
I don’t want to bore you with the winters and nominees because you can find them all online, just follow the links. However, I would like to thank Brian for creating this nifty award ceremony because it gives us bloggers a chance to choose for ourselves who we think deserves an award and why. Though the award is not nearly as big as it probably should be… I am sure that within time this will be and I will support it all the way. Thanks Brian and thank you all for supporting it.
To continue my ‘double-feature post’ on Creepshow, as I said in my previous post on the ashtray, the segment entitled They’re Creeping Up On You deals with the best kind of revenge. Much like every story (except for The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill) deals with revenge but in this segment, it’s poetic justice. According to a class book I have, poetic justice is “an outcome in which vice is punished and virtue rewarded, usually in a manner peculiarly or ironically appropriate.” I think this segment really fits with this literary device. Let’s look at the plot:
The story is centered on Upson Pratt, a Howard Hughes inspired millionaire. Right off the bat we understand that he is having a serious cockroach problem and we know that he loathes cockroaches. During this time he converses with one of his employees about a corporate takeover of another company, but when the employee says that the owner shot himself because of it… Pratt smiles and says good riddance. In another conversation, he threatens to fire an employee who is on vacation if he does not fix his roach problem. Then, in another conversation, the widow of the man who killed himself calls as Upson mocks her and her husband’s death. Why does he do all this? He thinks that everybody, except him are nothing but a bunch of cockroaches.
“You have to watch them. Castonmeyer, Reynolds… bugs. That’s all they are. All of them. And although they’re essentially brainless… you have to watch them… ‘cause they creep up on you.” - Upson Pratt
It’s a wonderful juxtaposition to the characters that Upson Pratt interacts with throughout the segment. As the characters become more hurt by Pratt, the cockroach problem becomes worse. Then, when the blackout hits the cockroaches decided to frighten Pratt by attacking him in swarms. When the emergency power comes back on, Pratt decides to lock himself in his bedroom only to have cockroaches burrowing out of his stomach, throat and mouth till his death. It’s one of the best stories in the whole anthology.
Here, the cockroaches don’t just act as typical bugs; they are representing all the men and women that Pratt looks down upon. They represent all the people that Pratt has ruined, fired and harassed throughout his life. Since he compared those people to cockroaches and bugs, it’s fitting to see cockroaches attack him. The roaches kill him before he could kill them, and if you look at it as poetic justice, all the people that Pratt ruined finally got revenge on him. I compare it to when Ellie Driver hides the black mamba in Bud’s money suitcase, because Ellie uses the black mamba to kill Bud in Tarantino's Kill Bill. The Bride’s codename was Black Mamba so that you can argue that The Bride did get revenge on Bud in some sense.
I was always fascinating by the idea of poetic justice and when I first saw this segment, I didn’t really like it all that much. I looked at it as a lame idea and I hated that they used cockroaches of all things. Of course, I was ignorant back then but now as I look at it… it’s a great segment and probably one of my favorites. I have to thank all these film classes that I am taking because without them, I would have never analyzed this segment and found pure poetic justice.
The other night I watched one of my favorite horror anthologies… Creepshow and I noticed something, something that a lot of other people noticed besides me so I kind of feel weird posting about this but I figured I’d look deeper into it. In every short story, we see that marble ashtray somewhere in the background (with the exception of Father’s Day). Why is it there? Does it mean something? Was it supposed to be a gag or a just a reoccurring element? Well, I think that I have discovered why it’s used in almost every scene and keep it mind, I am only guessing on this, this is only my interpretation of it.
First, lets look at its structure. It’s dark and almost Gothic looking piece and it’s sort of creepy in a way, which should tell you right off the bat that this is a piece that is not supposed to be nice. The design, from what I can see, is that of a little boy sitting up against a tombstone looking down into the ‘tray’ part as though he was looking into a grave. This symbolizes death, which is ironic because the ash goes into the ‘grave’ almost like it was saying that smoking would eventually cause death. The first time we are introduced to the ashtray, it was shown as the object in which one of the characters kills her father with, setting up that this piece causes death. It’s like an omen of sorts, whenever a person is about to die or is going to die; this piece is somewhere in the scenery or next to something that is important.
Below, I have screen captured all the scenes that had this ashtray so that you can see where it fits in with everything.
Father’s Day
Here, the ashtray is used to kill the Father. Nothing special but as I stated before, it is supposed to set up that this ashtray is not meant to be a good sign when you see it. You can argue that the ashtray is still a murder weapon, just not directly.
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
In this segment, it doesn’t really have a meaning like how Father’s Day was an act of revenge. Here, it’s foreshadowing that Jordy will eventually die, but Jordy is very nice but goofy kind of a person. So I guess it’s his own stupidity that causes his end.
Something To Tide You Over
As you can see, the ashtray is not on the desk of Richard Vickers just after he got done sadistically murdering his wife and her secret lover by buying them in the sand while the tide came in. The ashtray is symbolizing that Richard is about die a very harsh death because of his coldblooded actions and again, it’s out of pure revenge.
The Crate
In this scene, after realizing his friend was telling the truth about finding a monster in a crate and that it killed 2 people, Henry decides to lure his drunk and emotionally abusive wife to the monster so that he can get rid of her. The ashtray is right next to the letter that would lead his wife Wilma to the college where she would be eaten. Another act of revenge foreshadowed by the ashtray.
They’re Creeping Up On You
This is the best example of poetic justice that I will later elaborate on in another post. Here, we see Upson Pratt washing his hands after spraying a few roaches. Soon, the roaches invade his penthouse and they kill him. The ashtray symbolizes the best kind of justice, the revenge from all the ‘roaches’ that Pratt killed and destroyed.
Oh yes, this just happened. I just heard about this book from Stu, at Buy Zombie, sent me the trailer for it. I am so psyched for this book. When I first saw the trailer I thought it was a real movie and my first impression was: AWESOME!!!!
I for one, am sold on this book and I will definitely be buying this. This is my first real news story on this blog but the trailer made me so excited that I had to post this. Hopefully this book will also help redeem vampires. You can watch it below.
Today I want to elaborate on something that my buddy pointed out about Shutter Island and as I watched the movie unfold and I watched how the twist was revealed I started to dissect the beginning and end scenes of the movie. Then it hit me like a sold gold brick to my head and (keep in mind, I was at a restaurant when this happened) I yelled, “Marty you bastard!” It was after that, when I realized that I loved this movie. Also, as a side note, when I sincerely love a director I like to verbally bully him with my friends. Ex: I love composer John Williams so when I hear his scores I say, “John you bald sonofabitch! You did it again!”
Anyway, onto the post at hand. The beginning of Shutter Island opens up on the ocean as a boat makes it way out of the fog. The ocean is calm and the general tone of the scene is gray, grim, dark and very foreboding. The fog is thick, white and you can barely see anything, which is perfect for what this scene implies. At this point Teddy is going to the island for the investigation and to find Andrew Laeddis but he does not realize that he is Laeddis so he still believes that he is Teddy Daniels, US Marshal.
At the very end of the movie, when Cawley and Chuck (who turned out to be the psychiatrist for Andrew) confront Andrew and tell him that he is not Teddy, they mention that they have to hear him say that he is not Ted Daniels so that they could avoid giving him a lobotomy. They go on to mention that his brain is in a loop and that one day he’ll know he’s Laeddis and the other he’ll think he is Teddy. Well, he tells them that he is Andrew and that there is no Teddy and the next day he says to Chuck that he is Marshal Daniels; implying that he still thinks he’s Teddy. Chuck signals Cawley to proceed with the lobotomy but Andrew says, “Do you want to live as a monster or die a hero?” As the staff takes Andrew away Chuck yells, “Teddy, wait!” but Andrew doesn’t look back. This implies that Andrew was playing Chuck and the staff; he set them up to believe that he still believes he is Teddy Daniels just so they could lobotomize him. He understands he is a dangerous person and the only other way to cure him is lobotomy.
Note: This is not the end shot. This just a picture of the lighthouse.
The end shot is a shot of the lighthouse, where the suspected lobotomies and mind control take place, sitting atop the rocks on a calm day. The tone of this shot is very relaxing but still very tense, gloomy and unsatisfying. However, the clouds of the storm are starting to pass so there is a little bit of blue sky peering out of the clouds; another great symbol for a cloudy mind beginning to clear up. Here the lighthouse symbolizes Andrew’s closure point… he knows he is a monster and he understands that he must be ‘cured,’ so the lighthouse is almost like point of enlightenment.
But lets also look at the beginning and end shots and see how they relate to each other. Think of the boat floating through the fog as Andrew’s mind: it’s cloudy, it’s murky and you can’t see what’s in front of you. You can’t see the shore because it’s blocked by delusion. Now, what to lighthouses usually do? They guide ships and boats to shore by providing them the only light in a fog-covered bay. The lighthouse image at the end is helping Andrew guide his way through his foggy mind to shore, or in this case help him get cured. It’s poetic and it proves that Shutter Island is a very beautifully shot movie.
As many of you know, last Saturday the Portage Theater in Portage Park hosted a ‘party’ where all of us were invited to see the original classic Universal horror movies on the big screen. I was thrilled to see this because I am a huge fan of the classics and to see them on the big screen was inspiring. The films they showed were Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Mummy’s Hand. Although, I would have preferred the original Mummy.
As I watched the films I could not help but notice some key things that made these films so memorable that I noticed this time around, as opposed to watching them when I was a kid or teenager. Certain aspects of the film I caught on right away and rather than bore you with reviews of these films (with the exception of The Mummy’s Hand) I want to share a few things that I noticed this time around. So, I hope you enjoy my observations and these are very opinionated and I am not saying this is was they were going for, this is just what I interpreted.
Dracula: Of Flies and Spiders Okay, so what I noticed this time around is the flies and spider metaphor. As said in the film, the spider spins his web to trap unsuspected flies so that it could drink their blood or body fluids. It’s not until we get to the scene where an orderly takes Renfield’s ‘pet spider’ and throws it out the window. Renfield is deeply saddened by this and he states that he hates flies because they are pathetic and stupid. You can argue that the spider symbolizes Count Dracula and the flies symbolize the unsuspected guests that wonder into this castle. The spider is hidden in the shadows and sucks the fluids out of the flies much like how Dracula is hidden in the shadows and sucks the blood out of his victims.
But why is Renfield so distraught over a spider and why does he hate flies? That’s because Renfield is a fly, he was trapped by Dracula to do his dirty work and he wants to be free, he wants to have the power over Dracula but unfortunately he does not possess it. The idea that he is nothing but a pawn or a fly caught in a spider’s web is too hard to confront so the least he could do is nurture a spider.
Frankenstein: The Sounds of Horror What I realized in the old black and white horror movies (even the ones that have sound) is that there was not soundtrack at all. Only in the beginning titles or in the end credits do we hear a score. In Frankenstein, the sound is so crucial to the movie that it acts like a soundtrack. In modern day movies, the score often terrifies us by giving us high-pitched string solos or sudden booms in horns or gongs. In this film, the sound effects of the lightning, the storm, the lab equipment and the dogs are so abrupt and loud that they terrify you. The sound makes the film scary.
The Wolf Man: The Less You See… For Now As a kid, I was a fan of this movie. Hell, this was one of the first horror movies my parents let me watch by myself and I saw it on a Universal Horror VHS collection. The one image, or should I say sequence, that was forever burned into my skull was how the Wolf Man was introduced on screen. It starts off showing the foggy, gothic landscape of the forest at night; just the mere presence of the forest is so domineering. Then, you see a shot of the Wolf Man’s feet walking across the ground, then a shot of the body of the Wolf Man and his head is in silhouette. It’s not until he peers from behind the tree do you see the entire face and I was freaked out. Here, the less you see of the Wolf Man (before his intro) is better, because it keeps you in anticipation of what he looks like. When you finally do see him, It’s shocking and horrifying.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon: Terror from Below This was always my personal favorite of all the classic Universal horror films. This was due to the costuming and the design of the Creature. However, as I watched it on the big screen I realized how scary the movie was for the mid 50s. In the beginning of the film, all you see is the hand and hear the loud menacing music. Then, when the Creature does attack… you don’t see anything but a shadow and screams. That hand will forever be stuck in my head. The score was so intense and over-dramatic that it was almost as if it was a character itself. As I stated before, the Creatures does look pretty frightening especially for that time.
What I also noticed was some of the under-the-water-shots were very reminiscent of Jaws and it wouldn’t surprise me that Jaws homaged this film. The scenes where the Creature was swimming parallel to the lead actress, or the scenes where the Creatures was wiggling his way through the seaweed or even underwater battles were both frightening and very Jaws-ish. It was tense.
The Mummy’s Hand: Short Review Now, I haven’t seen this movie at all and I did enjoy it but not nearly as much as I liked The Mummy. This movie seemed to drag a little in the beginning but my biggest beef was that The Mummy was like a third wheel. I think the film could have been a little better but it still was entertaining. One aspect of the film that I LOVED was the humor to lighten the mood up. Some of the scenes were very dark, but bless Babe for being one of the best comic reliefs. The film was apparently not a sequel to the 30s classic.
I will now end with one of the most inspirational opening logos Universal has ever made. The song, the look and the epicness made me want to go into filmmaking. I salute you Universal for popularizing horror movies.
The other night I decided that I wanted to do a soundtrack post and I haven’t done one in a long time. I figured that I would do a short little analysis of a score that I fell in love with when I first heard it. It was the score to Fright Night composed by Brad Fiedel. On first hearing, this score isn’t really that scary nor is it really that imposing but if you look at the movie… the movie isn’t pure horror either. However, I will say that it is definitely an 80s sounding score considering the synthesizers and the use of the saxophone, something most scores don’t really have nowadays.
The score starts off slow and builds up to the climax before it slows down again until the end. The movie is very sexual and I think the score really adds to the sexuality of the movie in it’s pacing. As it starts off slow, you can think of it as a slow build up to, or foreplay, sex. As it progresses we begin to hear wind instruments adding a more primitive tone to the movie, as though this is the point where things become more animalistic so to speak. When it climaxes it can be referencing the climactic point in having sex. Throughout the score the saxophone really adds to the eroticism.
But I still find this score, as loud as it can be, very soft and very slow. As sexual as the score is (and how close to sounding as if it was a porno soundtrack) it’s still very eerie and very foreboding. It really gives you the feeling of being stalked or lulled into a false sense of sexual ecstasy. It’s haunting and very controlling at the same time. It matches perfectly to tone of the movie.
Below, I have provided a YouTube video of the theme to Fright Night. I have the theme on my computer but Blogger video isn’t working right so I can’t give you a clearer version of the song.
Last night I was fortunate enough to see The Crazies but not fortunate enough to catch Shutter Island. I remember encountering the original movie back when I was younger but I was too scared to watch and I never really took the time to hunt it down. So, I am doing this review as though The Crazies was a stand-alone film rather than a remake. My friend saw the original and he said that this remake is barely like the first movie, that they are two different movies. He went on to say that you couldn’t really compare them because they did a lot of new things in this remake that weren’t in the original. Which is great because if you want to remake a movie, update it and add some new things into it. Don’t do a straight copy of the original.
The movie starts off when a deranged man with a shotgun walks right onto the fielding during the baseball game. The Sheriff (Olyphant) insists he puts the gun down but instead he raises it up to him and the Sheriff shoots him. The next day, a group of hunters find a dead man with a parachute attached to him in the marshes and soon they discover a large aircraft that crashed into the swamp. After this, the military comes into the small town and starts quarantining people they believe are ‘crazy’ and infected. When the Sheriff’s wife gets separated from him, he decides to team up with his Deputy to save her and another man’s wife. Now, they have to make it out of Peirce Country alive and not get killed by the infected crazy people.
Right off the bat, this movie is very brutal but it’s not full on brutality… it’s very slow paced at times and it breaks up the horror parts into sections almost. There were some really awesome scenes that take place at a funeral home, a quarantine lab and in a baby’s room. The one scene that was really freaky, not because it was jump out scary, but because of the way it was handled; the Sheriff’s wife was being strolled through a school while men in hazmat suites were wondering around and inside classrooms people were going insane. It was just a creepy scene. The scene in the funeral home had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It definitely had it’s moments and it really seemed to scatter them.
The way things played out seemed a little sloppy and sometimes it didn’t make sense. I don’t really know how to explain it but the way the military just came in and started to quarantine things was a little random. Early on in the movie, it was foreshadowed but it just seemed way too random. I guess in most movies, you would see the military infesting the town and dragging people out of the stores or out of their homes but in this film, it’s all from the perspective of the Sheriff and his wife. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just a little different for me. I would have loved to see how the town went from this Small Town, USA look to a heap of burning metal and paper.
At times, this movie can get really heavy in emotion, which I really liked. One scene in particular finds the daughter of a man (She was one of the survivors that got away from a really nasty hospital scene) reunited with her boyfriend. As the boyfriend explains that his mom and dad are still in the house while he’s out in the barn getting things, the army comes in and shoots and kills the dad for resistance. The boyfriend then runs out to the army in anger just before he gets shot down. The mom then runs towards her son before she too is also shot and killed, both of them are later incinerated. It’s really sad and you really feel for the girlfriend character. Another person, who provides much emotion, is the Deputy. I don’t want to go into details cause I can write an entire post on him but I will say he is one of the most fascinating characters in the whole movie.
Out of everything that I love about The Crazies, the one thing that I found really hammy was the dialogue. There were so many times throughout the film that the dialogue was terrible. Case in point: when the phones have no service and the Internet goes down, Olyphant’s character says, “You know what… we’re in trouble.” It sounds so stupid. Or another time when the Deputy pulls off a sheet to reveal a cop car he says, “Fuck yeah” in such a bland tone and the car isn’t even that good. HOWEVER, the Deputy had some of the best lines in the movie that sort of made up for the campy phrases. He throws a spike strip out and causes a government car to topple over itself. The man inside struggles to get out and the Deputy, in all his glory says, “Welcome Peirce Country, friendliest place on Earth, asshole!” BEST LINE IN THE MOVIE.
A lot of people might complain that this movie is like a zombie movie (zombies being the typical Romero zombies or the 28 Days Later ‘zombies’) but I want to stress that this is not a zombie movie. Sure, it owes a lot to zombie movies but these people don’t eat you… they brutally kill and torture you. Plus, zombies don’t talk to one another. The makeup was amazingly done and it really made the people look like they were infected with something. Just, don’t go in thinking they are zombies but rather go in thinking that it owes to the zombie genre.
Overall, I liked The Crazies. Not the best remakes but far from being a terrible remake. It’s average but pretty enjoyable if you have some time to kill. I would recommend this to horror fans if you are bored but I wouldn’t really be in too much of a rush to go see it. Since it is different (I guess) from the original, just go in with an open mind. I would see it again, but I would have to think about actually buying it.
While looking through my DVD collection today I realized that I lost my DVD of the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill. Now, this DVD was very close to me because my step-dad asked if I wanted to see it and I told him “yes.” Well, throughout the whole movie I had my hands over my eyes. There are several posts that I want to do on this movie but sadly I am not able to because I have to watch the movie. These posts would include: the movie’s sound design, a review of the movie and probably its art direction.
But, I do however want to showcase some screenshots of the ghosts that inhabit the house so that you can remember how well done they looked. To most, this may seem like a pointless post because its just pictures but I think this movie really revolutionized the design of ghosts. Rather than just having a ghost that looks like a person or a ghost that has big eyes and a big mouth, these ghosts are human but their bodies and faces have been mutilated beyond recognition. They enhance the notion that they are insane ghosts and make it obvious that there spirit will always be trapped in surgical hell. It’s an interesting design on the whole thing and I think it really works with this whole setting.
I hope you enjoy them.
This was the hardest one to capture.
I also heard that some of the ghost designs were lifted from the movie Ghost Story, which I guess I can see if you look hard enough.
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About Me
Mr. Johnny Sandman
Chicago, Illinois, United States
I am a very strange person who loves horror movies and moviemaking in general. I hope to one day become a filmmaker and write reviews. I am also working towards a PhD in film as well. I love discussing and talking about horror movies and, interestingly enough, I am a huge Jimmy Buffett fan.
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