31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 24 Population 436

Population 436
Source-Mill Creek Where Evil Lies DVD set

Made in 2006 sometime in 2008 I was flipping channels and saw the last 10 minutes of this film on one of the movie channels. I liked what I saw and pulled up the onscreen info. Saw that Fred Durst was one of the main stars.Thought to myself "Well Limp Biscuit was total crap. I kind of doubt Durst is a good actor. I will just skip this movie."

Then it was late last year. I saw the Mill Creek Where Evil Lies set in the $5 bin.I looked at the back to see what 6 movies made up the set. Saw Population 436 and another that sounded decent. So I grabbed the set. But like what happens lots of time when I buy these cheap multi-film sets I end up throwing it on my shelf and never watching it.

I had no idea what I was gonna watch for my movie today. Then I remembered Population 436. Threw it in and was surprised at how good the film is. Jeremy Sisto is the lead. A man that works for the government. And is sent to the town of Rockwell Falls. To learn why the population of the town has stayed at 436 for over 100 years.

He gets to the town and it is like Mayberry come to life. With Fred Durst as a meathead Andy Griffth. Actually honestly Durst does a damn good job as the town Deputy. I haven't heard of him doing any more acting. Which is kind of sad cause his acting is way better than his singing.

Over the course of the films 1 1/2 hour running time we start seeing more and more how the town is just a bit off. Then in the final 20 minutes we learn why the town is so peaceful and why the population has stayed the same for so long.

The film is a nice blending of a mystery and a horror film. And isn't super gory or violent. Hell I am not really sure why it got an R rating. If you know someone that loves a good mystery this is a film they would enjoy.

Population 436 gets a B-.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 090 Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1

TITLE-Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1
AUTHOR-Clive Barker
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Free,was a gift.

I have owned at least 5 copies of this book. From the various US published paperback editions. To at one time a very nice UK published hardback that contained every volume of the Books of Blood. Well I lost them all over the years. So last year for X-mas I got this UK hardcover as a gift. I love how Barker did the dust jacket artwork.

After an introduction from Ramsey Campbell,we get the first story.

The Book of Blood,where a fake psychic gets attacked by spirits and has a bunch of stories carved into his skin. This is fairly short. And in the final Book of Blood we get a sequel to it. And these 2 stories were the inspiration for a halfway decent film adaptation a few years back.

The Midnight Meat Train,When I first read this story back in the mid 80s I was shocked. It feels like Barker wanted to write a splatterpunk style story. And he wrote a damn good one. Quite a few years ago this story was adapted into a damn good movie.

The Yattering and Jack,Set around X-mas. This is one of Barker's mixtures of horror and comedy. A lower level demon has been assigned to torment Jack. But keeps failing. Pretty sure this was made into an episode of Tales from the Darkside.

Pig Blood Blues,is a fun story set at a bordering school. Which reminds me a bit of Evilspeak.

Sex,Death and Starshine,goes back to Barker's theater roots. And has a nice EC style twist at the ending.

In the Hills,The Cities-My second favorite story in the books of blood. A couple is off in Eastern Europe. They get lost and stumble upon two warring villages. But instead of normal modern warface,the villagers strap themselves into 2 giants.That fight each other.

Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1 gets an A.