30 Days of Halloween - day 25 Now Playing: Lie To Me
There have been some great directors on this list and a few still to come. Entry 25 comes from Robert Rodriquez and the pen of Quentin Tarantino. Two interesting sequals.
Creepy old house? Not really. <spoiler alert> The Titty Twister is a biker bar which just happens to be situated on top of an ancient Mayan pyramid home to a coven of vampires.
Hot chick? Yes. The hottest chick on this list. And I have my wife's permission to say so. Salma Hayek as Santanico Pandemonium. IMHO you can pretty much turn the movie off after her dance number. Nothing but blood, gore and dead vampires after that.
But don't. You'll wanna see the closing shot. Bonus points for Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, and a bit part by Kelly Preston.
One of the most rockin' scores in scary movie history. MOST of it is on our DOTD soundtrack. Creepy house? Not really. Do the Moors count? Hot chick? Jenny Agutter. David "I'm a Pepper" Naughten and Griffin Dunne. GREAT makeup. Good date flick. R Rated.
30 Days of Halloween - day 23 Now Playing: Rush
Not a "spooky" film so to speak .... not really a "horror" film ... but perhaps the best crime thriller ever made with two of the scariest characters ever to grace the silver screen. 1991. Fave beans with a nice chianti. Silence of the Lambs. Dr. Hannibal Lecter appears in six movies, with Anthony Hopkins plaing him in three. Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb. Played by the subsequently accomplished Ted Levine (most notable as Capt. Leland Stotlemeyer on Monk.) "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."
Cupcake? Now Playing: Three Sheets Topic: Football
Division I-AA Delaware State received a $550,000 fee to play at Michigan, where the Hornets were pounded 63-6 on Saturday. Check ESPN's standings for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and Delaware State is listed as 1-4. Check the MEAC's own standings and Delaware State is 1-5. Why the discrepancy? In order to accept Michigan's bag of gold, Delaware State forfeited a scheduled contest against North Carolina A&T, and the forfeit is reflected in MEAC standings. Why didn't the Wolverines offer to host North Carolina A&T? The Aggies are 3-3 -- Michigan is afraid to play them.
The Obama Administration doesn't like Fox News' "We Report You Decide" ethic. The Obama Administration's communication ethic is "We Decide What You Report."
I've mentioned creepy houses in most of my other posts in this meme, but this is THE Creepy House post. #22 is a sub-sub-genre but I'll make some specific suggestions. It's the Haunted House Movie. Some of you might prefer 1986's "House" with William "Pippin" Katt. Into kitsch? Then it's 1960's "13 Ghosts" by William Castle, complete with specially treated glasses that allow you to SEE the ghosts (Rosemary DeCamp and a pre-Adam Twelve Martin Milner grace the cast). Likethe older movies? Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey in 1944's "The Uninvited" ... GREAT score and some interesting (for the time) special effects. The cool kids all pick "Poltergeist."
My picks?
#3. Vincent Price in the 1959 classic "House on Haunted Hill".
#2. From 1973 "The Legend of Hell House" Starring Roddy McDowell, Gayle Hunnicutt, Pamela Franklin and Clive Revill.
but #1. The Haunting, 1963.
Avoid most of these film's remakes at almost all costs with the possible exception of the 1999 "The Haunting" with Cathryn Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor and Virginia Madsen.
30 Days of Halloween - day 21 Now Playing: Rush
This one's from the REAL celebration of Samain. It was remade recently by Nick Cage, who I like, but the original, as is SO often the case, is better. I'm speaking, of course, of The Wicker Man (1973.) Edward "The Equalizer" Woodward. You and me and Christopher Lee. Creepy old house? Not really, but Lord Summerisle's estate is pretty creepy. Hot chick? Britt Eckland. Her wall pounding performancde at the tavern is breathtaking. A bit of fluff compared to some on the list, but engrossing and enjoyable.
30 Days of Halloween - day 20 Now Playing: Eastwick
Here we are. The final ten. The best. Quintessential.
The Italians are SO good at this. There are two directors whose works best exemplifies the genre. The most prolific is Mario Bava. How can you NOT like the man who brought us "Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs"? Black Sabbath. Lust of the Vampire. Several months worth of saturday afternoon double features. This reference is to the old days when stations ran double feature monster flicks on saturdays from about 1 to 5.
The artist, however is Dario Argento. Which brings us to todays film: Suspiria, which he wrote and directed. What sets Dario Argento apart from many of his contemporaries is his success with visual imagery. In a style where sudden visual shocks are used to thrill the audience, Argento creates elaborate deaths which cannot be quickly forgotten. The highly involved double-murder towards the beginning of the film still remains one of the most memorable scenes in horror history, standing next to the Psycho "shower scene" in pure sensory input. And in a technique so powefully employed here and here alone, Argento sets scene after scene aglow with color, using it to express the mood in ways only the subconscious can fully appreciate. All around, this is an excellent addition to the genre of horror cinema, one of the most expressive films to ever plunge a knife into the psyche of its viewers.
Creepy house? You bet. A European ballet school. Argento's use of color is stunning from the outset. Hot chick? You bet - the place is crawling with lithe ballet dancers! Creepy moments? The double murder that OPENS the film. The haunting segment that takes place in a huge, and strangely empty, public square, at night. A blind man and his German shepherd dog stand in the middle of the square, surrounded by imposing buildings of neo-classical architectural style. Some professional reviewers of this film have suggested that the public square is a veiled reference to Hitler and Nazism. Indeed, one could argue that the film's subtext is an indictment of fascism.
This movie has perhaps the best opening 20 minutes of ANY horror movie. The score by "Goblin" is quirky and does a great job setting the mood. If you like this you might wanna watch a later effort, Tenebre in which he explores with water what Suspiria does with color. A true master.
Predictions Now Playing: Night of the Geeks Topic: Football
OK .... here we go .... two weeks left in OHSAA play ..... we going to do TWO games this week.
1. Mechanicsburg vs West Liberty. WJHS would LOVE to see Mc'burg knock off the Tigers. Mc'burg by 7.
2. West Jeff faces it's toughest opponent of the season - 7-1 Div 3 Licking Heights. Win and the Roughriders are in. Lose and NEXT week becomes a playoff game. They have four common opponents and WJ beat three of them by more than LH. Trouble is, they have an avg record of 2-6 so the score isn't really indicative of the performance. I'm still going to against the Riders, taking LH by 3.
3. Buckeyes host Minnie Ha Ha. They were my only loss last week. OSU favored by 18. Barely.
4. John Grote and I are the only two left in my survivor pool. Lots of byes and lots of teams laready used makes the going tougher. I'll throw two your way - Indy @ STL ... and the Pats vs TB.
