Tuesday, October 2, 2012
31 days of Horror 2012 Extra 01
For at least 20 years now I have been collecting Pez dispensers. It started off with my mother getting some of the holiday releases each year. For some reason I held on to each of them. Then after a few years I realized I had about 20 Pez. So I started buying the Pez that caught my attention. Well with this being October I figured I should post some pics of my various Halloween themed Pez.
Here we have the three jack-o-lantern Pez I own. All three of them glow in the dark. The one on the left is from at least 5 years ago. The middle one is the jack-o-lantern style that replaced the one on the left. It came out for at least 4 years. The one on the right was just released this year.
On the left we have a glow in the dark skeleton that is from the past 5 years. I like how it has paint on the stem. On the right is an older skeleton. I like the details on it like the collar and the missing tooth.
On the left is the glow in the dark witch from the past 5 or so years. The details in the face are well done. On the right is the new revision of the glow in the dark witch. I like how they changed the look of the face and the hair.Plus the added details to the hat,like the buckle.
All three of these are from the past 5 years and still seem to be in production. All three glow in the dark. First off is a vampire bat,which has nice details on the face and wings. In the middle is a well done vampire. The hair and collar are well sculpted. Then on the right is a black cat. I love the collar with the pumpkin.
And I saved my favorite for last. This is what I assume to be a Mummy. It glows in the dark. I love how the eyes are painted and that they added eyebrows.
31 days of Horror 2012 day 02
1980
Blue Underground DVD
This is the first film from infamous Italian director Lucio Fulci that I ever saw. I found it,under the Gates of Hell title,for rent at Homeport Video out in Forts Lake Mississippi. I had never heard of it before,but on the box cover was a warning that said cause of extreme scenes of violence and gore it was recommended that no one under the age of 18 see the movie. That right there was a huge clue that I must see this movie. I had to be about 13 at the time. Got home with the VHS through it in and sat down to watch it while I ate my dinner. At the time I had no idea this was an Italian film,and also had no idea who Lucio Fulci was. But after watching the film I knew that I must own a copy. So before returning the VHS to the video store I hooked up 2 VCRs and made myself a copy. Fast forward almost 20 years and I was in Circuit City and looking for some new horror DVDs to buy. I saw saw a DVD titled City of the living dead,and since I have always loved zombies movies I picked it up and read the description on the back of the case. It sounded kind of familiar to me,but it didn't connect it to Gates of Hell. I saw that Blue Underground had put it out,and I knew that they always did great work on their DVD releases so I bought it. Well the DVD sat on my shelf for years before I even opened it up. Then sometime in 2008 I threw it in late one night when I was looking for some thing to watch. After about 10 minutes I realized I had seen it before. So I looked it up on the internet and realized it was also known as Gates of Hell.
The film is about how after a priest commits suicide in a graveyard he opens up one of the Gates of hell. And zombies pour through this gate and invade the town. A reporter played by Christopher George finds out that the gate most be closed by All Saint's day. If this doesn't happen the zombies will end up taking over the world. Like most Fulci horror films,City of the Living Dead doesn't have the most amazing plot. But what it does have is great atmosphere and some really well done practical FX work. We get one well done scene where Giovanni Lombardo Radice gets killed by a drill to his head. Then what is one of the best known deaths in any Fulci film, when one lady ends up puking up all her intestines. This effect was done by having the actress swallow some sheep intestines and then having her regurgitate them. And it works really well. First time I saw the movie,like I mentioned above,I was eating my dinner and the gut puking part almost made me puke. One complaint I hear from most people is how the film really has no ending. This is cause the last reel of film got messed up and Fulci didn't have the money or time to re-film it. So we get a crappy non-ending ending. But if you are a fan of 80s Italian horror City of the Living dead is worth at least a rental. I know that a few years ago Blue Underground released this on Blu Ray. And at the same time put out a new edition on DVD. These newer releases have a really good making of documentary. The DVD I have is bare bones. Besides the film ,you get a trailer and a fact file on Fulci. City of the Living Dead gets a B+.