American Horror Story
FX
Wednesday 9pm Central
For the past 4 months I have been seeing a series of strange previews for American Horror Story. The previews had a very David Lynch quality to them. Well I love David Lynch and horror so I knew I had to try out this show. Well last week on Wednesday it premiered. But since I hate watching commercials I recorded it to a DVD-r. And didn't watch it till late Sunday night.
We start off a few years ago ,with two red headed twin boys heading into an abandoned house. They are warned not to go into it by a young girl that has Downs syndrome. They enter the house and start breaking shit with baseball bats. But some unseen force attacks them and kills them.
We jump ahead some unknown amount of years. And Dylan Mcdermot and Connie Britton are in a car with their daughter. They are moving to a new town. They show up at the house they are wanting to buy and it is the one that the twins died in. The Realtor tells them that the last owners died in the house. But the wife loves the house so much they buy it. It is this huge Gothic looking house. The next day while the mom is removing some wallpaper she gets to meet the downs syndrome girl and her mom. The mom is played by Jessica Lange. And we see Ms Lange stealing something outta a box. We find out that Connie Britton had a miscarriage and right after it caught her husband cheating on her.So this move is kind of a way to start over.
We cut to the daughter in school and she is having problems with some of the other girls. They seem to want to pick on her and try to start a fight with her. Also it turns out that the dad is a shrink .He is using one of the rooms in the house as his office. We see him having a session with a teenage boy. The boy expresses an interest in the daughter. And later on the two of them plan some revenge on the girl that is being mean to the daughter.
We also get to meet the woman that has been the housekeeper of the house for years. But for some reason when the husband is looking at her he sees this young smoking hot red head. Instead of the old wrinkly lady that she is. Well strange stuff keeps on happening. Like the husband and wife find a old gimp outfit in the attic. And one night after they have had an argument,someone shows up in the bedroom wearing the gimp outfit and he has sex with Connie. But we see that the husband is in the kitchen and is in some kind of trance. The episode ends with Connie telling Dylan that she is pregnant. Which he finds to be strange cause they haven't had sex in over a year.
From just this first episode I am majorly impressed by the show so far. The acting is good. The girl with downs syndrome really impressed me. Connie Britton is an actress that I have enjoyed almost anything she has done. Plus she is a great looking lady for being as old as she is. Dylan McDermont I haven't seen in much but he does a good job in this episode. This will be a show I make it a point to not miss each week. The camera work and general strangeness of the show is a nice effect. American Horror Story episode 1 gets a A-.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
31 days of horror Year 3 day 13
Satanic Yuppies
1996
Tempe Video
Now this is kinda of a cheat. Thanks to stuff I couldn't have predicted I didn't get a chance to watch a horror film today. So this is a review of one I saw a few weeks back. Back in the late 90s I was getting almost every magazine that dealt with cult movies. In the pages of Alternative Cinema I found out about a movie that was coming out soon to VHS,it was called Evil Ambitions. But it had been originally titled Satanic Yuppies. It seems someone had told the company that made the film,that movies with Satan in the title were hard to sell to Mom and Pop video stores in the south. Which is strange,I have lived 90% of my life in the deep south,and back when you could still find a Mom and Pop video store they always had the stuff that Blockbuster didn't. And I saw plenty of VHS with Satan or some variant in the title. Well back in 2006 Tempe video got the makers to re-edit the film and they changed the title back to Satanic Yuppies.
We start off with a cult doing a ritual. And for some reason there is random cut aways to a busty naked blonde playing with a snake. Well the next day the body is found in a park by the Ohio river. And reporter for one of the Cincinnati papers is there. You can tell this reporter is based off Kolchek. He even copies some of Daren McGavin's mannerisms.
Well the movie keeps showing up this cult sacrificing women. And the reporter trying to solve the mystery. Turns out some politician is the head of the cult. And big surprise he is a Republican.
Well the reporter gets kidnapped by the female leader of the cult. Who is played by Amber Newman. And at the very end Satan is summoned. And the makeup effects on him are pretty good. Well the woman they have for him turns out to not be a virgin. No big surprise she is a pretty blonde with big gazongas. So he kills the Republican douche bag,and sends 3 of the other cult members to hell. The only funny part of the film. Is this one cult member,who looks like a shorter fatter Undertaker,while being sent to Hell is headbanging his ass off.
The DVD has 2 extras. A commentary with the directors,writer,producer,and a bunch of the cast. And it is OK. Plus a 10 minute "Action new 93" piece that is looking back at the Satanic Yuppies murders. This is very lame and isn't worth watching. Really the entire film,besides the one cult member headbanging his ass off while being sent to hell,isn't worth watching. I wish I hadn't bought this DVD. Satanic Yuppies gets a F+. The + is for the headbanging cult member.