Well, this sure is an example of things not going as planned and almost derailing update 2. While making decent progress during the week, my weekend has been lampooned by circumstance. On my way home from work, my car broke down and that pretty much blew my Friday evening watch away. Then to follow it up, shortly after noon, my power went out. The weather we got a few hours west of Hurricane Matthew was taunting me all morning with constant power sags and then finally, it gave way. So far, it hasn’t been a weekend truly conducive to watching movies. As I write this relying on the battery left on my laptop and a 3g hot spot, I still wonder when I will get my power back.
That said, the challenge waits for no man, so forward I go. I have a few movies I’ve downloaded from Amazon Prime and Vudu on my Kindle Fire and that can keep me moving for a few more hours this morning. Hopefully by the time I run out, power will be restored and life will start to return to normal. Well, as normal as it gets during the challenge. Anyway, here is my week in review:
List for Update 2, Week of Oct 2nd – Oct 8th:
October 2
5. Hostel: Still don’t like this one. Everything just seems so mean spirited and I don’t like any of the characters.
6. Fright Night 2: Pale imitation of the series. None of the characters were likable. Mostly annoying and the movie is boring. Was waiting for the people to die so I wouldn’t have to put up with them anymore. Also, what school has a headmaster just bursting in your room to tell you to get up so you can make it to class?
7. The Visit ☼: This was pretty decent. The little brother was pretty annoying, but I really enjoyed the others. I liked the grandfather a lot. My wife thought the twist was a little too obvious.
October 3
8. The Mind’s Eye Commentary with Joe Begos
9. The Mind’s Eye Commentary with Joe Begos, Zak Zeman, Josh Ethier and Graham Skipper
October 4
10. Hostel Part II ☼: Ummm, better than the first? I guess. I found characters a little more interesting. It felt a little less mean spirited and gore for the sake of it. Still see no reason to watch it again.
11. Gremlins Commentary with Dante, Finell and Wallas: Another good commentary track from Dante. He obviously has fun revisiting these movies.
12. Chopping Mall ☼: Good time. It is just cheesy as about anything else, but a lot of fun actually. Also, the Vestron Video release looks pretty darn good for an older b movie.
October 5
13. Supernatural S10/E09 / Supernatural S10/E10: Got back on the wagon recently. Still want to see where this goes.
14. Gremlins 2 Commentary.
October 6
15. Supernatural S10/E11: Nice little distraction with our old friend Charlie. Fun little monster of the week-ish style break. Enjoyed this one quite a bit.
Supernatural S10/E12: Another one that is monster of the week style. Dean’s bit about what it is like to be 14 again was fantastic. So far we’ve seen Dean aged and de-aged. When does Sam get the age treatment?
16. Supernatural S10/E13: This one continues in the line of relatively independent stories. It is about a vengeful spirit through electronics. This one was less entertaining than the last few.
Supernatural S10/E14: This one goes back to being more involved in the Mark of Cain story. Pretty good showdown in the episode. Nice to make some degree of progress instead just the what will they do about this.
17. Green Room ☼: Wow, that was intense. I’m not sure if it was the confined quarters, but it just felt tense throughout the movie. It wasn’t entirely what I expected either. It surprised me in some good ways.
October 7
18. Dark Night of the Scarecrow ☼: Not bad for a TV movie. I felt the atmosphere was quite good and spooky. While I didn’t love the music used for the score, it was quite effective.
October 8
19. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust: Haven’t watched this in a decade. I still enjoy it quite a bit. It looks good on Blu-ray and has some fun characters and battles. I enjoyed both the gang of vampire hunters as well as the gang of mercenaries. The final showdown and plot twist was solid also. Glad I revisited.
20. Bite Marks ☼: This was just garbage. On the one hand, I found the intro and outro music fun and appreciate that they tried something new with vampire lore, however the movie just didn’t work. It was not just slow, it dragged on terribly for the first half or so. When it picks up, it is still slow and uninteresting. At least we got Stephen Geoffreys saying “You’re So Cool, Brewster!”
Checklist as of Update 2, Week of Oct 2nd – Oct 8th:
Select 10 actors [1/10]: --- Erin Brown - --- Peter Cushing - --- Sybil Danning - --- Andrew Divoff - --- John Ireland - --- Brion James - --- Boris Karloff - --- Camille Keaton - -X- Christopher Lee - Gremlins --- Bela Lugosi - --- Bill Moseley - --- Tom Noonan - --- Felissa Rose - --- Chris Sarandon - --- Lin Shaye - --- John Saxon - --- Peter Stormare - --- Julie Strain - --- Emmanuelle Vaugier - --- Dick Warlock - Select 2 film composers: --- Charles Bernstein - --- Joseph Bishara - --- Bruno Nicolai - --- Christopher Young - Select 5 directors [2/5]: --- Dan Curtis - -X- Joe Dante - Gremlins --- Terence Fisher - --- Len Kabasinski - --- Kiyoshi Kurosawa - --- Herschell Gordon Lewis - --- Juan Piquer Simón - --- Kevin Tenney - --- James Whale - -X- Jim Wynorski - Chopping Mall Select 2 makeup effects artists: --- John Carl Buechler - --- Barney Burman - --- Ed French - --- Rosario Prestopino - Select 2 producers: --- Anthony Hinds - --- Samuel M. Sherman - --- Robert Tapert - --- Twisted Pictures - Select 2 writers: --- Jaume Balagueró - --- The Pang Brothers: Danny & Oxide Chung - --- Lou Rusoff - --- Leigh Whannel - Select 30 of the following sub-genres / types [8/30]: --- *3-D Film - --- Agoraphobia - --- Anthology Film - --- Appears on BFI's 100 European Horror Films List - --- Appears on Video Nasties List - --- Based on a True Story - --- Based on a Novel - --- Cannibalism - --- Cinema Inspired By: Richard Matheson - --- Cinematic Titanic / Horror Host / MST3K / RiffTrax - --- Comedy / Spoof - --- Criterion / Masters of Cinema Version Film - --- Death by: Drowning - --- Distributor / Studio: Severin Films - --- Documentary - --- Extraterrestrial / Takes Place in Space - -X- Found Footage - The Visit --- Frankenstein - --- Ghost / Haunting - --- Giallo - --- K-Horror - --- Killer / Evil Animal - --- Killer / Evil Child - -X- Killer / Evil Doll - Goosebumps --- Made-for-TV Movie - --- Monster / Creature Feature / Godzilla - -X- Mummy - Goosebumps --- Musical / Rock ‘n Roll Horror -X- Nation of Origin: Japan - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust --- Nazi - --- Psychological - -X- Rape / Revenge - The Mind's Eye --- Recently Deceased Actor or Director - --- Slasher / Psycho / Homicidal Maniac - -X- Takes Place on a Holiday - Gremlins --- Takes Place on or Under the Sea - --- Three Installments in a Franchise - -X- Vampire - Bite Marks -X- Werewolf - Goosebumps --- Witchcraft / Satanic / Religious - -X- With Commentary - The Mind's Eye --- With Two or More Horror Legends - --- Zombie - Watch 1 w/commentary from the "Masters of Commentary": --- Joe Bob Briggs - --- John Carpenter - --- Larry Cohen - -X- Joe Dante - Gremlins --- Guillermo del Toro - --- David del Valle - --- Tim Lucas - Watch films in at least three formats: -X- First format, (Blu-ray), (Goosebumps). -X- Second format, (Streaming), (Fright Night 2). --- Third format, (insert format), (insert title). Watch films in at least three languages: --- First language, (insert language), (insert title). --- Second language, (insert language), (insert title). --- Third language, (insert language), (insert title). Watch 3 films that you've never seen before that: --- Stars a Deborah (Dutch, Foreman, Lamb) - --- Features music by Pino Donaggio - --- Was made in the 1940s - --- Features a killer kid - --- Was written by Dardano Sacchetti - --- Features a killer robot - --- Has the words "Night" in the title - --- Was directed by Christopher Smith - --- Stars Paul Naschy - --- Takes place at a retail establishment - Select 8 decades of film history [4/8]: --- 1890 - --- 1900 - --- 1910 - --- 1920 - --- 1930 - --- 1940 - --- 1950 - --- 1960 - --- 1970 - -X- 1980 - Gremlins -X- 1990 - Gremlins 2 -X- 2000 - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust -X- 2010 - The Mind's Eye Select 4 ratings [4/4]: --- G - -X- PG - Gremlins -X- PG-13 - Gremlins 2 -X- R - Chopping Mall --- NC-17 - --- X - -X- Unrated - The Mind's Eye --- M - --- GP - Attend a live event (convention, play, haunted house, ghost tour, etc.): --- (insert event). OPTIONAL Venture Into the Literary World: --- Read a Horror Novel or Novella (insert title). OPTIONAL --- Read a Comic Book or Graphic Novel (insert title). OPTIONAL
Full List as of Update 2, Week of Oct 2nd – Oct 8th:
September 30th
1. Gremlins: A real comedy horror classic. I love the way Dante makes these movies. You can’t help but love Gizmo and hate Mrs. Deagle and enjoy when she gets her comeuppance.
October 1
2. The Mind’s Eye ☼: Apes scanners somewhat heavily. But still as good of a Scanners follow up as Scanners 2. Not sure if it is better, but it feels a good bit like Scanners despite being shot less masterfully.
3. Gremlins 2: More slapstick and zany than the original and far less gritty. But a lot of great off the wall moments and still a few pleasant and brutal moments here and there. They really went for it all with different personalities in the gremlins.
4. Goosebumps: Light-hearted romp with tons of imaginary creatures. Family friendly with tons of monsters and a few lightly spooky moments. As an added bonus, my wife enjoyed it as well.
October 2
5. Hostel: Still don’t like this one. Everything just seems so mean spirited and I don’t like any of the characters.
6. Fright Night 2: Pale imitation of the series. None of the characters were likable. Mostly annoying and the movie is boring. Was waiting for the people to die so I wouldn’t have to put up with them anymore. Also, what school has a headmaster just bursting in your room to tell you to get up so you can make it to class?
7. The Visit ☼: This was pretty decent. The little brother was pretty annoying, but I really enjoyed the others. I liked the grandfather a lot. My wife thought the twist was a little too obvious.
October 3
8. The Mind’s Eye Commentary with Joe Begos
9. The Mind’s Eye Commentary with Joe Begos, Zak Zeman, Josh Ethier and Graham Skipper
October 4
10. Hostel Part II ☼: Ummm, better than the first? I guess. I found characters a little more interesting. It felt a little less mean spirited and gore for the sake of it. Still see no reason to watch it again.
11. Gremlins Commentary with Dante, Finell and Wallas: Another good commentary track from Dante. He obviously has fun revisiting these movies.
12. Chopping Mall ☼: Good time. It is just cheesy as about anything else, but a lot of fun actually. Also, the Vestron Video release looks pretty darn good for an older b movie.
October 5
13. Supernatural S10/E09 / Supernatural S10/E10: Got back on the wagon recently. Still want to see where this goes.
14. Gremlins 2 Commentary.
October 6
15. Supernatural S10/E11: Nice little distraction with our old friend Charlie. Fun little monster of the week-ish style break. Enjoyed this one quite a bit.
Supernatural S10/E12: Another one that is monster of the week style. Dean’s bit about what it is like to be 14 again was fantastic. So far we’ve seen Dean aged and de-aged. When does Sam get the age treatment?
16. Supernatural S10/E13: This one continues in the line of relatively independent stories. It is about a vengeful spirit through electronics. This one was less entertaining than the last few.
Supernatural S10/E14: This one goes back to being more involved in the Mark of Cain story. Pretty good showdown in the episode. Nice to make some degree of progress instead just the what will they do about this.
17. Green Room ☼: Wow, that was intense. I’m not sure if it was the confined quarters, but it just felt tense throughout the movie. It wasn’t entirely what I expected either. It surprised me in some good ways.
October 7
18. Dark Night of the Scarecrow ☼: Not bad for a TV movie. I felt the atmosphere was quite good and spooky. While I didn’t love the music used for the score, it was quite effective.
October 8
19. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust: Haven’t watched this in a decade. I still enjoy it quite a bit. It looks good on Blu-ray and has some fun characters and battles. I enjoyed both the gang of vampire hunters as well as the gang of mercenaries. The final showdown and plot twist was solid also. Glad I revisited.
20. Bite Marks ☼: This was just garbage. On the one hand, I found the intro and outro music fun and appreciate that they tried something new with vampire lore, however the movie just didn’t work. It was not just slow, it dragged on terribly for the first half or so. When it picks up, it is still slow and uninteresting. At least we got Stephen Geoffreys saying “You’re So Cool, Brewster!”
