I can remember the first time I watched Thriller, a music video directed by John Landis and starring Michael Jackson. I was a college junior and sitting at the counter of a club in Charleston, SC called "Spankys" when MTV first broadcast this video. I was very impressed as I watched it.
The fourteen(14) minute long video features some great monster makeup effects on Michael Jackson and marvelous dance choreography. The video was produced as a promotional tie in to the 1982 Michael Jackson song "Thriller" and album of the same name. That album is among the greatest selling albums of all time.
I still consider Thriller, which was released in December, 1983 to be the absolute best music video I have ever seen and is even more satisfying for me to watch around Halloween.
In 1968 a horror film was released that would set the standard for "zombie" horror movies:Night Of The Living Dead, directed by George Romero. This black and white horror film kicked off what has become a marvelous film franchise, spawning numerous sequels. While this particular film isn't my personal favorite(it's 1978's Dawn Of The Dead) it is a film I enjoy watching about once a year around Halloween. To see this movie in its full duration click the video below:
For those horror movie fans who love Hammer horror movies I highly recommending "bookmarking" Hammer Films' official website into your internet browser. Click the link below to access this marvelous website: Hammer
Some of the scariest films I've ever seen are horror movies that feature demonic possession. Those that immediately come to mind for me include The Exorcist(1973), Amityville 2-The Possession(1982) and Beyond The Door(1974). Early next year on January 6th Paramount is releasing The Devil Inside, directed by William Brent Bell. Judging by the trailer it looks promising. Check out the trailer below:
I can remember being considerably skeptical at the prospect of actually liking the film The Thing, a sci-fi/horror movie directed by John Carpenter, as I walked in the Lenox Square mall theater(here in Atlanta, GA), ticket in hand to see this movie for the first time, way back during the summer of 1982 when this movie made its theatrical debut.
Remakes weren't so prevalent thirty years ago like they are now. I remember reading an early review of this movie in the local newspaper(the Atlanta Constitution) by a movie critic who blasted the film as nothing more than a lot of "meatball gore". I have never been one to pay much attention to movie critics so after getting mildly inebriated on some cheap beer I accompanied two friends over to the mall to check out this film. Initially I felt considerable disdain at the idea of any director helming a remake, or "re-imagining" if you will, of the classic 1951 sci fi movie "The Thing From Another World", which was directed by Christian Nyby...or Howard Hawks depending on who you believe.
I watched The Thing(1982) and came away liking this movie a great deal. Now, decades later and with more viewings it has become an all time favorite of mine in either the sci-fi or horror movie genre. Director John Carpenter put together a highly entertaining movie, which has a cast of quality actors, terrific sets, outstanding makeup and marvelous creature effects by Rob Bottin. This movie chronicles the struggles of a group of scientists at a remote, Antarctic research station who welcome into their facility a stray dog, unaware that the animal is in fact a hostile, shape shifting alien from a destroyed Norwegian research station in the same general area of the Antarctic. The American scientists inspect the wrecked Norwegian station but find little answers to the mystery and later must deal with the alien creature after it escapes into their own encampment and begins attacking, and assimilating the various scientists and other personnel at the U.S. research station.
The film is at once a combination of mystery "whodunnit?" and gory, makeup effects laden scenes of terror as the research station members turn on each other in their efforts to eradicate the creature. Rob Bottin's creature effects are terrific, the alien creature fairly hideous in its natural form and also in mid transformation forms while it tries to absorb and imitate the various cast of characters.
I haven't seen the "prequel" film to the 1982, John Carpenter directed classic(also called The Thing), which is showing in theaters right now but I'll buy it on DVD when it hits retailers. The Thing(1982) is available on both Blu Ray and Collector's Edition DVD. Both can be seen for sale at Amazon by clicking the Blu Ray DVD cover art image above.
On December 27, 2011 Sony Home Entertainment will release Hostel Part III to official Region 1 DVD. The third "Hostel" film will feature more young victims being brutally tortured by members of the "Elite" hunting club, this time in Las Vegas, Nevada and not in Europe. Unlike the first two "Hostel" films, the third installment is a straight-to-video release.
I have always been considerably hardhearted where horror movie remakes and "updates" are concerned. I probably always will be. That said every once in a while a remake comes along that I actually like and Dawn Of The Dead, a 2004 "update" of the 1978 classic directed by George Romero, is one of them. This 2oo4 remake is directed by Zach Snyder and, like the 1978 Romero directed movie of the same name, chronicles the struggles of a small group of people who sequester themselves in a huge mall after a worldwide plague turns the majority of the human race into ravenous, aggressive flesh eating zombies. Like the '78 film this update is full of gore and superlative makeup effects.
This movie is available for sale at Amazon at a very affordable price. The movie is also available on Blu Ray. To see the uncut, widescreen version of this movie for sale at Amazon click the DVD cover art image above.
A couple of days ago I had the pleasure of sitting down and watching an old horror movie I hadn't seen my college days. I'm referring to The Boogens, which was released theatrically way back in the fall of 1981. As far as I know this somewhat obscure horror movie has never been released to official DVD. I've seen various internet vendors selling DVD-R bootlegs of this film and Amazon does offer it for sale as a VHS tape from numerous Amazon sellers.
A friend of mine and fellow horror movie fan was kind enough to record this film off TCM, that would be Turner Classic Movies by the way, and record it to a DVD-R. I received the disc in the mail and promptly put it into my DVD player.
As horror movies go The Boogens is surprisingly decent, I think. The film, directed by James L. Conway, was made on a meager budget of about $600,000. In the film an old mine, closed since 1912, is quietly prepped to be reopened by a small group of people employed by a local mining company. Soon enough they'll wish they had kept the mine closed as vicious, bloodthirsty creatures who inhabit the deep innards of the mine and accompanying maze of underground tunnels linking to all the homes in the adjacent town, begin killing off cast members of this movie.
The thing I like best about this film is the suspense that is nicely established by the director. The full reveal of the monsters in this movie doesn't come until the end and we only see parts of the creatures during the film's progression. The creatures are rendered through animatronics and look more than sufficiently garish and menacing. There's really no gore in the film but a few of the victims are shown being vigorously hacked and bloodied by the monsters' tentacle like appendages.
Hopefully this movie can find its way to official Region 1 DVD sooner than later. I think The Boogens would definitely be a hit with the majority of classic horror movie fans.
Gwoemul (pronounced "gae - mul"), aka by its international(and American) title "The Host", is a 2006 Korean sci-fi film featuring a huge, reptilian monster that appears out of a river and terrorizes a local community. A family, losing one of their own to the creature's attacks, take it upon themselves to find and kill the mutant monster when local authorities drag their proverbial asses handling the crisis.
The CGI used to render the huge monster is stellar and the first(and primary) creature rampage is actually a daylight attack on the locals. I own the Region 3 DVD of this 2006 Korean monster movie. A sequel to The Host is in the works. Check out a trailer for this movie by clicking on the video below:
