Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Fright Fest: Cue Inappropriate Laughter

Amidst the gore, violence, and screams of terror; it's nice to take a break an laugh a little. It's even better when you can laugh at something that resembles a horror movie already. There have certainly been times when I just didn't want to go to sleep after watching something scary or sick. Not that I was scared necessarily, though I am woman enough to say that could sometimes be the case, but because I know I'll sleep better after something a bit light hearted. So, what do you watch when you want to laugh your ass off during Halloween?  


"The Addams Family" - Based on Charles Addams beloved comic, a family of con artists try to grift the titular family into thinking their son is the long lost Uncle Fester. Little are they prepared for the level of weirdness that ensues. Favorite line: "Are your Girl Scout cookies made with real Girl Scouts?"

I remember watching this movie in the front row when it came out. At the time, the front row was THE place to be. Man I was an idiot. Regardless, I grew up reading these comics and we had several of Addams' books around the house. My sister and I wanted to be Wednesday when we grew up, either her or Lydia Deetz. I'm sure everyone has seen this movie, but hasn't it been a long time? Don't you think it deserves another viewing?


"Innocent Blood" - Marie is a vampire trying to live her life when one of her meals gets her in trouble with the law. She teams up with the lead detective to track down her little accident and keep her secret safe.

What more do you need in a movie? Comedy, a bit of gore, boobs (for those of you who are fans), and John Landis. I've been a fan of Anne Parillaud since "Le Femme Nikita" and Anthony LaPaglia since "So, I Married an Axe Murderer". Also, when Landis does horror it is always so enjoyable. There's plenty of blood and ripped throats to go with all the great one-liners.

[side note: Watch "So, I Married an Axe Murderer" again. Love! "Woman, whoa man. Whoa man. She was a thief, you gotta belief. She stole my heart and my cat"]

"Serial Mom" - A typical suburban mom takes matters into her own hands in defense of her family. No slight is too small for her to wreck vengeance!

It was about time for John Waters to take on the serial killer craze, and take it on he did. There's something deeply satisfying with watching Kathleen Turner stab some dope with a pair of shears. This is another movie about a woman standing up for her family and although savage violence may not always be the answer, it's refreshing to see a family that actually gets along and seems to like one another. I guess the family that kills together, stays together. Not for those who find Mr. Waters work crude or depraved of course. Of course, those types of people would not read my blog or be friends with me.

"Psycho Beach Party" - "Six Feet Under" star Lauren Ambrose stars in this "Gidget" spoof. She's the first girl accepted into the Malibu surf club, but she has a problem. She has multiple personality disorder. When her friends start showing up dead, she worries she might have something to do with it.

This movie is seriously, stupid fun. I used to love the Frankie Avalon/Annet Funicello movies and to see them re-imagined as a murder mystery party is pretty cool. There are a bunch of people in this film including Thomas Gibson, nicholas Brendon, Amy Adams, Kathleen Robertson (where has she been?), and Charles Busche (writer and famous cross dresser).


"The 'Burbs" - Tom Hanks is convinced his new neighbors are some sort of satanic cult and sets out to investigate.

Director Joe Dante is one of the masters of B-horror, having directed "Piranha", "The Howling", "Amazon Women on the Moon", and "Gremlins". He also made one of my favorite comedy/Sci-fi movies "Innerspace". Here, he gets to show us what he's really made of with a film that purposefully thumbs its nose at his earlier work. Hanks, Bruce Dern, and Carrie Fisher are hilarious as some of the other neighbors, but it's the late Henry Gibson that really shines as the head of the Klopek clan.

"Killer Klowns From Outer Space" - Possibly the greatest bad movie ever made! The plot is pretty self evident from the title: Killer clowns land on Earth and begin abducting people to take back to their big top space ship for food.

How is this movie not shown at more midnight screenings? I love their little popcorn babies they shoot at their victims and the big cotton candy cocoons they wrap you in before sucking out your juices through huge bendy straws. Director Stephen Chiodo went on to a successful career in stop-motion animation and puppeteering in such films as "Elf", "Team America World Police", as well as creating the diorama's for "Dinner for Schmuck's" (which I haven't seen but heard they were the only good thing about that movie). Pretty impressive. This is a must see for all movie lovers.


"Splatter Farm" & "Motel Hell" Double Feature- In "Splatter Farm", brothers visit their aunt at her farm only to discover what they're actually harvesting is human parts. In "Motel Hell", the manager kidnaps his guests, buries them in the ground to fatten them up, then serves them as his famous fritters. Very "Delicatessen"-esque.

Cheese galore in both pics! They're so silly yet you can't stop watching them. I caught "Motel" late one night on TV and it was so disturbing. Then I was disturbed that something so silly disturbed me. Maybe that's not the right word for it... It's like a Troma movie without the money. They know it's silly and they don't care.


"Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter" - I change my mind. This is the worst movie of all time that you have to see to believe. Jesus comes back to Earth to take down the vampire community with his amazing kung-fu skills and the help of Mary Magnum and nacho libre El Santos.

I don't want to ruin this for anyone as it wasn't ruined for me. My friend called, told me the title, and that was all. I do suggest several drinks beforehand and during.

Finally, I just watched "Suck" which I've been waiting to become available on Netflix ever since I saw a trailer for it on /film. I was worried for a bit when it first started, but then I laughed out loud several times and proclaim it Destined to be a Cult Classic!

Down on his luck Joey and his band (The Winners, "it's ironic") are languishing playing empty clubs and getting no hits to their website. When the only female member Jennifer (congrats Jessica Pare on "Mad Men". I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!) is bitten by a vampire, their popularity soars and so does the body count. Malcolm McDowell co-stars as vigilante vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsing.

This movie is a who's who of guest stars. Everyone from Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins, Moby (I didn't even recognize him), Dimitri Coats, and more turn up in this pic. The making of doc is mostly the above talking about music and why they were in this movie for 45 minutes. I would have liked a bit more behind the scenes and less interviews with the cameos.

What better couple than rock music and vampires? What's better is the movie is actually funny. It plays like how I imagine my friend's and I would act if we discovered one of us was a vampire. Jack of all trades Rob Stefaniuk looks like a somber Jamie Kennedy but thankfully without his tone. His songs are ironic and while not exactly rockin', are still pretty impressive. I kind of wish there were more singing. We get teased with it towards the beginning when Coats master vampire breaks into song while seducing Pare and I thought, "Hell yea! Another 'Rocky Horror!'" Instead the only other songs happened at the bands gigs. I think that was a bit of a missed opportunity.

I am buying this movie immediately and hope I can figure out a way to screen it for my friends in my own Elvira style Midnight Movie Madness!

6 comments:

  1. Wow, another great list. PSYCHO BEACH PARTY was surprisingly great. KILLER KLOWNS FTW. Glad you enjoyed SUCK.

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  2. i am totally looking into these! Thanks. I think you should add Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. The theme song is the best!

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  3. These are some of my favorite movies!!!!

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  4. @aaron- Have you seen it yet?

    @kortney- Thanks! Great addition to the list!

    @Nightmer- Yea, I think we may have a problem

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  5. Seen what? SUCK? Yeah, I thought it was fun. Not great but a lot better than I ever would have expected. I only watched it because Henry Rollins was in it and ended up being pleasantly surprised.

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  6. Ha! That wig he was wearing was probably the scariest thing in the whole movie. I love him though

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