Wednesday, October 2, 2019

31 Days of Horror Day 02 The Burbs

TITLE-The Burbs
SOURCE-Shudder streaming service

In 1989 Joe Dante unleashed this horror comedy film. And while the film didn't bomb at the box office it wasn't a huge hit. Thankfully through home video and airing fairly often on cable The Burbs has grown into a loved cult film.

Earlier this year I finally subscribed to AMC'S horror streaming service Shudder. And spent some time going through all the films and tv shows they offer. Once I saw they had The Burbs I stopped what I wa doing and watched the film for the first time in close to 10 years.

Tom Banks is the lead. He lives in the suburbs and is taking a week long vacation. During this vacation he notices something is odd about the new neighbors,the Klopeks. And you have to be very odd to stand out in a neighborhood that includes Bruce Dern and Corey Feldman.

Over the course of the vacation Hanks,Dern, Feldman and another neighbor spy on and suspect the Kolpeks of killing another neighbor who is missing.

There is so much great things about this film. You got a really good cast. The late Carrie Fisher is Tom Hanks' wife. The very under rated Wendy Schaal is sooo good as the wife of Bruce Dern. Speaking of Dern he almost stills the film as military vet Lt. Rumsfield. But my favorite is Corey Feldman as a teenager that lives in the neighborhood . Normally I find Feldman to be average at best. But in the Burbs he is as good if not better than the various veteran actors in the film.

Normally unless it is made up of songs I know and like I rarely pay attention to a film's score.  Jerry Goldsmith did a really good score for The Burbs.  And I am trying to track down a copy of it.

A few years ago a Blu Ray of the Burbs came out.  And it is loaded with lots of extras. Including lots of cut scenes. Plus some behind the scenes footage that shows us the cast having so much fun during the production of the film.

The Burbs gets a A.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

31 Days of Horror Day 01 Maximum Overdrive

TITLE-Maximum Overdrive
SOURCE-Blu Ray R

I first saw this film not long after it hit theaters.  I was already a Stephen King fan. But hadn't read the short story this film is based on. After seeing the film I got a ride to the local library to get the collection of short stories Trucks,that's the title of the story,was published in. And the entire next week in study Hal
 I read that collection.

Wow where do I start...this is the first film King directed.  And IIRC the only film he had directed.  Being a huge rock music fan King got ACDC to do the entire soundtrack to this movie. And it is a really good soundtrack.

Well enough rambling what is this film all about? A comet passes close to Earth. Somehow,this is never explained, this causes most machines to become sentient.

Our lead is Emilio Estevez.  A guy on parole who works at a truck stop. And the story is all about a bunch of people now trapped at the truck stop. All because a fleet of 18 wheelers have surrounded the place.The main villain is a huge 18 wheeler with a giant Green Goblin face on the front grill.

It looks like our cast is trapped. ..until the owner of the truck stop reveals that the basement is full of heavy weapons. Machine guns,grenades and even a rocket launcher. Sure this revelation feels very deus ex machina. And it is. But this is a turn your brain off film. One that is best enjoyed by watching with a big group of friends who are all getting shitfaced.

Few bits of trivia. The voice of Lisa Simpson, Yeadrly Smith has a big part as a newlywed who gets trapped at the truck stop. A pre-fame Marla Maples has a small part. Also in the 90s this was remade. It was a USA NETWORK original film. The remake was titled Trucks and has Timothy Busfield as the lead.

The Blu Ray pictured at the top was given to me by CodyLL. A few times a year Cody mails me packages full of movies.  He got the Blu Ray R of Maximum Overdrive at a con. And once he got the official Blu Ray release he gave me his old copy. If you look to the right I have a link to Cody's blog. Like myself Cody is a life long horror fan. And every day in October he is posting a review of a horror film. Go check his stuff out.

I have liked this film since I first saw it decades ago. And while it is nothing groundbreaking it is worth seeing. Maximum Overdrive gets a B-.

Monday, September 30, 2019

20 years of 31 Days of Horror

Back in late September 2000 I was at work and chatting with a buddy through AIM, remember AOL Instant Messenger? We were both complaining about how we had a huge pile of Horror movies on DVD that we hadn't watched. Cause at this time both of us were buying pretty much any horror film that companies like Anchor Bay and Synapse were releasing.  Well my buddy came up with a idea.  "How about each day in October we each watch a horror film and post a review online." Back then we posted these reviews to Usenet. And from 2000 through 2008 I posted my reviews to Usenet. Starting in 2009 I had created my blog. And that is the main place I have posted my reviews since then.

To help us get those piles of unwatched dvds smaller we created some rules for our annual 31 Days of Horror.

1.Once we reviewed a film we couldn't review it again. So far only one time did I review the same thing more than once. And that only happened because I forgot I had already reviewed the film before.
2.We include in the review what the source of film is. IE  did I watch Phantasm on DVD, VHS, laserdisc or whatever.
3.The first 15 years we tried to avoid the popular slashers like Friday the 13th. Mostly cause those films have been reviewed so much I feel like there isn't much for me to say. The last 5 years I have started to include some of these films.
4.Every year we try to review at least 5 films that are obscure. Cause we have both been told that people discover films thanks to our reviews.
5.Every review has to be online by at least 10pm. That way the people reading them get a chance to read 1 each day. I usually have mine online by 9am central.
6. As long as the film is 60 minutes long it counts.
7.Stuff like horror comedies or films most people consider a horror count.

One change this year is I got a Roku last Xmas.  So while last year I watched a few films online.  Mostly thru services like Vudu,Vimeo or Youtube. Now I got Shudder,which is AMC's horror streaming service.  Plus I have at least 10 different FREE horror streaming services. And well known streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.

Well I hope y'all enjoy the reviews. And a huge thank you to Every One that takes the time to read my rambling reviews.

V and Me

Monday, September 23, 2019