Monday, October 31, 2011

Scary Movie Month 2011 - Part 3

Our third week of movie watching had no truly scary movies, but interesting, enjoyable, and fun movies with moments of hand-wringing, "eeks!", and marvelous shocks.

The Blob
(1958 - starring Steve McQueen)
I had never actually seen a Steve McQueen movie before this one, and I have to admit that this one didn't argue for watching more. Very odd to see actors clearly in their twenties playing teenagers. (I know this happens all the time, including some of my favorites, it was just especially jarring in this one.) Yet again, we talked all the way through --- the main topic of conversation this time (other than the usual predictions of how the terror was going to spread and how it could be stopped) was to note how this movie fits into the canon of late 50's movies that start to celebrate teenagers over adults. Now, of course, it seems most of our media does, but youth culture really got its start in the mid- and late-50's, and it is interesting (to film and music buffs like ourselves) to see some of the early examples of the shift.

Alice in Wonderland
(2010 - directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter)
My work friend with whom I talk about movies/comics/books asked why we included this when it is in no way a horror movie. Before watching I figured, well, pretty much anything that Tim Burton does is spooky in some way, and this is Scary Movie Month, after all, not Horror Movie Month. After viewing, I can say this definitely belonged, there are some really scary bits in it. Also some really interesting bits (it got us thinking about the roles available to women in Victorian England, for example), lots of beautiful ones, and of course it's always a treat to watch Helena Bonham Carter, I'm always fascinated by her performances and her ability to be so different in each. I found Johnny Depp's character to be really moving as well though I wouldn't say it was necessarily a big stretch for him (I thought his performance in "From Hell" (coming up soon) was better).

Arachnophobia
(1990 - starring Jeff Daniels and Harley Jane Koszak)
I don't have any problems with spiders, so this one didn't bother me as much as it did The Dude. First two thirds were kinda so-so and then the pace picked up and it got good and action-filled and fun. Another memorable cameo by John Goodman as well - he's always fun to watch.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Scary Movie Month 2011 - Part 2

The next week's movies were not as satisfying but still had some good moments. 

Once Bitten
(1985 - starring Lauren Hutton and Jim Carrey)
The movie started, and right away we knew it was going to be awful, stupid and aggravatingly 80's, with caricatures instead of characters.  Five minutes later we turned it off. Not worth anyone's time.

28 Weeks Later
(2007 - starring Jeremy Renner (sigh) and Rose Byrne)
Oh, so much better. Interesting, thrilling, scary, heartbreaking --- everything what you want in a scary movie. I did watch significant chunks of it with my head turned and my hands up before the screen so I couldn't see the most disgusting bits. A friend of mine at work laughs that I love scary movies but hate gore. On thinking about this, though, I've decided that I don't mind gore so much as I dislike seeing pain, either in the moment it's inflicted or as people are suffering from it. A bloody, disemboweled dead body lying in gore or a quick bloody death --- no problem. But ongoing suffering --- can't watch it. None of these so-called "torture porn" movies for me.

Friday the 13th 
(the original 1980 version)
Boring, ho-hum, thought I would fall asleep, only good for the opportunity to mock ("Who's going to die next?" "Oh, she just said/did something sexual, guess it's her turn.") because really, as a nearly middle-aged mom I have no patience for watching teenagers behaving badly --- and then, boom, totally got frightened silly. The Dude says it was worth sitting through it just for that, he kept plying me with sugar so that I would stay awake long enough for the big scare. It worked.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Scary Movie Month 2011 - Part 1

Well, while I haven't managed to stay on top of writing about Scary Movie Month, we've definitely been managing to stay on top of our viewing! (More impressively, I've managed to stay on top of baking for it, as we like our snacks for SMM, and I've been avoiding buying chocolate this year.)

Here's the first week's worth of movies.

The Frighteners
(1996 - directed by Peter Jackson, starring Michael J. Fox)
Enjoyed this while watching, but then five days later couldn't remember that I'd seen it. That either doesn't say good things about the movie, or should just be chalked up to late pregnancy. I'm inclined now to say the latter, as I've been talking about it with people about it since, and have found more and more that I enjoyed about it, though my main complaint remains the same (the romance is accelerated to an insane degree to forward the plot). Also an interesting movie to view given where it fits into the Peter Jackson catalog (between Heavenly Creatures and Lord of the Rings) - it's certainly more Hollywood and big budget than Heavenly Creatures but I never would have predicted his ability to do LOTR based on this movie.

Rear Window
(1954 - directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly)
Not really scary, but filled out our Hitchcock viewing. Most of our discussion afterwards (and during - this was the year we talked through every single movie we saw...) centered around changing experiences of neighborhoods and neighbors, and changing expectations of marriage. This really isn't one to critique - it is a classic, after all.

The Mist
(2007 - from a Stephen King novella, with a disturbing performance by Marcia Gay Harden)
Oh, scary, scary, and so sad. I get sad just thinking about it. I don't think we did much talking during this one, except maybe to make predictions about who was going to die next. I do remember a couple of breaks for extra snacks/bathroom - probably to break the tension of all that scary sadness.

I hope to get caught up by the end of the week! Only eight more to go before this last weekend's worth.