31 Days of Halloween

Dolls (1987)

Directed by: Stuart Gordon
Written by: Ed Naha
Starring: Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon andCarrie Lorraine

Dolls are creepy. Especially those damn porcelain dolls. My wife has a collection stowed away in our house and after finally seeing Stuart Gordon’s DOLLS, I’ll be having nightmares of those dolls killing me.

DOLLS and I have an interesting background. I remember being in 5th grade and at a friend’s house. They wanted to watch DOLLS on VHS, but I was too scared. Back then, all horror films scared me. I remember walking by the Horror section of the VHS rental store and forcing myself to look at the boxes. The box art scared me.

Instead of being taught that these movies were pretend, my parents taught me that Horror films were evil. Of the devil. I believed my soul would be dragged to Hell or I could become possessed by an evil spirit just for watching these. I stayed away. Until one fateful day when I decided to watch A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET because a cute girl wanted to watch it. Ever since then, I’ve become a bit of a Horror buff. Especially once I started digging into the “behind the scenes” of these movies. The make-up effects fascinated me. I was hooked.

So, fast forward 14 years. I’ve still never seen DOLLS. This was the perfect time to finally watch this. I’m a fan of Stuart Gordon. RE-ANIMATOR is in my pantheon of Horror films for me. While DOLLS is no RE-ANIMATOR, it was far better than I would have expected it to be. It’s actually a parable of being “young at heart.” It’s scary, funny, dark and twisted.

DOLLS is a perfect midnight movie. It’s surprisingly great. Now, time to track down my wife’s porcelain dolls and smash their faces.

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31 Days of Halloween

Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2 (2011)

Directed by: Robert Hall
Written by: Kevin Bocarde, Robert Hall
Starring: Brian Austin Green, Thomas Dekker and Mimi Michaels

The first LAID TO REST flick wasn’t anything new. It’s a standard slasher flick. What set it apart from the rest was a cool looking baddie, Chromeskull, and some amazingly creative death scenes. Coming from a special effects background, director Robert Hall knew what to deliver on.

LAID TO REST 2 is a solid sequel. It expands on the Chromeskull character and finds a creative way to bring this killer back. A tight story and gore gags deliver. (Even though one kill is stolen from JASON X)

I’m looking forward to LAID TO REST 3!

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31 Days of Halloween

Mimic: The Director’s Cut (1997)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Written by: Donald A. Wollheim, Matthew Robbins, and Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam and Alexander Goodwin

MIMIC has always been a guilty pleasure for me. It’s never been high art and always seemed very generic. Through the years I learned how Guillermo del Toro was pushed around by the movie studio and his true vision was never realized. MIMIC was supposed to be a creepy creature feature full of atmosphere and great creature effects. Not a generic, by-the-numbers creature thriller full of false jump scares.

So here we are 14 years later. Guillermo del Toro finally has final cut on MIMIC and it’s pretty glorious. Since he was forced to change things while filming, the ending is still the same and not his original intention. But, all the lame jump scares have been removed and the pacing, tension and atmosphere are much improved. I can finally say that MIMIC is actually a good film now!

Guillermo del Toro‘s new cut of MIMIC is now the definitive cut for me. It’s amazing how a few trims/additions can make a superior film. Well worth re-visiting.

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So, I have way too many Horror flicks I’ve been meaning to see. Time to upgrade “13 Days of Halloween” to “31 Days of Halloween.” Let’s do this!

1. My Soul To Take

2. The Last Exorcism

3. The Cottage

4. The Return of the Vampire

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

6. The Fog

7. Mimic: The Director’s Cut

8. Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2

9. Dolls

10. Silver Bullet

11. The Hole

12. The Orphanage

13. The Evil Dead

14. The Changeling

15. Magic

16. The Magician

17. Cronos

18. Session 9

19. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3

20. The Revenge of Frankenstein

21. Stop Me Before I Kill!

22. The Tingler

23. Paranormal Activity 2

24. Scream 4

25. The Beyond

26. Red State

27. Nightmare City

28. 13 Ghosts (1960)

29. Homocidal

30. Never Take Candy From A Stranger

31. Trick ‘r Treat

31 Days of Halloween

The Fog (1980)

Directed by: John Carpenter
Written by: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins and Janet Leigh

THE FOG is one of my favorite John Carpenter movies. I love the deliberate pace. Tom Atkins is a badass. The atmosphere and ghosts very creepy.

What I enjoy about this film, too is the time it takes to tell the story. It doesn’t rush kills or scares. Carpenter takes his time to set up the characters and the underlying legend of the ghosts. Solid film and still holds up.

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