A Month of Horror: The Gate

The Gate:

Wow, I have such fond memories of this movie. I remember being at school one day and overhearing my friends talking about this scary movie called "The Gate" and how awesome it was. I was so intrigued that I walked all the way to Network Video and rented the VHS that day and watched it that night by myself in my parents room.

Now you have to remember that my parents were pretty laid back when I was growing up about movies that I was able to watch, and that included horror movies. In fact, Network Video had a note from my parents saying that I was able to rent horror movies and Rated R movies.

So I got home and after dinner I locked myself away and put the movie in. Up to this point I had seen Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Those were both pretty scary, but nothing too bad.

I really enjoy this movie, it is definitely an 80's throwback in every way. The hair styles, the clothing, the shoes, all scream 1980's. There is one thing that is ageless though throughout the movie and that is the story. It preys on the fears of kids. The unknown and unexplained, all topped off with an annoying older sister and no parents around.

The movie focuses on a family, specificaly a son and daughter that are home alone for an extended weekend. Over night, a tree gets struck by lightning, and a series of events occurs following the lightning that leads to the opening of a gate to another world in their own backyard. The demons coming from the gate need to make two human sacrifices so that they can make hell on earth.

Now one of the cool things about this movie is seeing Stephen Dorff as a young kid. It is almost hard to recognize him buried in 80's style hair and clothes, but it is definitely him. This movie does a great job of setting up the story and the character development. The FX are not the greatest, but definitely what you would expect from a pre-CGI era of movie making.

This movie is rather fun to watch, and I would think that kids over the age of 8 would probably be able to watch it, but they definitely will stand a chance of getting pretty scared.

Verdict: Definitely a must watch, for a family horror movie. With the new release of this finally on DVD, I would say it is a must own.

Halloween = Horror Movies

So it is funny to me how people can love the same things in different ways. When I talk to other people that love Halloween it is always interesting to me to find out what they love about Halloween and how it is different than I do.

For example, my wife and I both love Halloween. Now we both love the trick-or-treat aspect with our kids, and we also love the dressing up for Halloween parties and going to those as adults. Although with kids, that last part doesn't happen nearly as much as we'd like. We both also like the decorating of the outside of the house with tombstones, skeletons, ghosts, and noisy (annoying, but fun) mummies and zombies. But more so than anything else, Halloween to her is shopping at Halloween stores and looking at all the different decorations they have out that year, and some of the costumes and those things. Myself, I really like Halloween for the scare factor and the mysticism that is involved. That is exactly the stuff she does not like about Halloween. This is what cracks me up. How we can both love the holiday and not love it in the same way.

It is just funny as I talk to neighbors that "love" Halloween, but they don't decorate the outside. They "love" Halloween, but they do not like horror movies. They "love" Halloween, but they do not enjoy the parties or dressing up. It is just interesting how so many people can love something, but love it so differently. I heard an amazing statistic that Halloween is the second-most profitable holiday to Christmas. So it must be true that people love Halloween. I guess there are just so many components to Halloween that can attract so many different types of people.

Now as I mentioned, my love of Halloween centers around scary movies and trick-or-treat. It is awesome that this time of year all these DVD's and Movies come out to get me in the mood. It is pretty funny that I do not care too much about scary movies until around late September. That is why every year I have a horror movie festival in my man cave, leading to the Month of Horror this year.

A Month of Horror: Trick 'r Treat

Trick 'r Treat:

So this is a movie that I knew nothing about going into it. This movie is set in Warren Valley, Ohio, home of a fictional Halloween city festival. The movie consists of a few different stories that seemingly are not related. Some of the characters in the movie do cross paths here and there but there is really no other crossover in the stories.

I had read about this movie on the internet and how it really did not do much. There was a lot of talk about how this movie was not available to a lot of people and complaints about how it is just now becoming available on DVD and video. I rented this one on Apple TV and I have to say that it was mildly entertaining at best. The acting and the camera work is all professional and there are really no complaints there. The movie does a decent job of stying creepy as the entire thing happens over one Halloween night so it is dark out and not well lit since a lot of the movie occurs outside.

It seems that the main point of the movie is to respect Halloween, and those that do not will be punished in one form or another. Even though there really is not one particular villain, the character on the front of the poster is the central character that seems to be lingering in all the stories. There were a couple of clever story twists, and like I said it was mildly entertaining, but the movie really did not do anything for me, and was definitely not scary.

Verdict: Rental only. Do not buy unless you have some ridiculous amount of money and do not mind losing $15.

A Month of Horror: Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me To Hell:

The first thing that I want to say is that scary movies generally do not scare me too much. I love them, but it takes a certain kind of horror movie to really get to me. Those types of scary movies tend to be the ones that deal with spiritual subjects or those of a paranormal nature.

Now this movie has three things going for it right out of the gates for me. It has Justin Long, who may not be the best actor, but I think is pretty funny and I enjoy how he delivers his comedy. It also has Alison Lohman, who I think is pretty hot. In addition to that it also deals with curses and demons. I am a sucker for this type of movie, not to mention the fact that they scare the hell out of me.

This one was no different. Alison Lohman's character plays a loan officer that refuses a loan extension to an aging gypsy woman. After a few encounters with the woman, Lohman's character becomes cursed by the gypsy woman and the freakiness ensues. In his return to horror, Sam Raimi does a great job of mixing in the disgusting with the genuinely scary paranormal fare. I love the fact that Raimi doesn't fall into the normal horror paradigms. A lot of horror movies rely on dark and creepy atmospheres to achieve their scares. Raimi does not do that, in fact, a lot of the scares are in the middle of the day, and with perfect lighting.

Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of "make you jump" frights, and some disgusting moments that are very cringe worthy, but where the movie succeeds is in the way that it sets a tone early, and keeps it running throughout the entire movie. The acting is above average for a horror movie, and in fact, even the over the top performances seemed to fit perfectly into the overall story and tone.

Verdict: Definite must see for both the casual and loyal horror fan

A Month of Horror: The Ninth Gate

The Ninth Gate:

I guess with the stories in the news the last few days, I thought I would choose a movie directed by Roman Polanski so that I could try and see why the idiots of Hollywood are making such a big deal about forgiving a man that raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl. I mean, the guy may be talented, but really?

Polanski is best known for movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown", the former thrusting Polanski into the limelight, and the latter rewarding him with Oscar fame. This movie however has only one thing going for it, Johnny Depp. While watching this movie, the uneven pace really kept urging me to take the movie out and disregard this entry into the Polanski catalog, but something kept me tuned in and it wasn't until the movie "jumped the pentagram" before I figured out the only redeeming factor in this movie was Johnny Depp. His performance was the only grounded work in the entire film.

I think that either Depp was the only one in the movie that knew how to act, or he was the only one in the movie that did not see eye-to-eye with Polanski's over-the-top visions for this movie. If only everyone else was on the same page as Depp was in this movie, it could have ended up being as good as some of Polanski's "A" material, but even with the strength of Depp's performance, this movie has trouble qualifying for Polanski's "C" team. That being said, a "C" Polanski film is still better than most directors' "A" games.

As bad as this movie really is once you take a step back and look at it objectively, during the viewing of the movie you cannot help but be a little sucked in by the tone and pace (Even though a lot of the pacing is uneven and irritating, just as it picks up, it drops off and leaves you hanging). I mean, what other movie could you see so many scenes of the main character looking through the Yellow Pages and still be sitting on the edge of your seat. When the pace is fast, the movie seems to work; the problem is that the pace is not very fast for very long at any stretch.

The absurdity is at its worst when one of the climactic scenes only reminds you of Rosemary's Baby. I guess if you haven't seen that classic, it may work, but since I have it was more of a distraction than anything else. In the end, Polanski's over-the-top direction seems to overcome Depp's great acting, pulling Depp over the edge of the ravine that Polanski had been tip-toeing on the entire movie. Let me just say this, if the court of public opinion has anything to say as to whether his talent is good enough to clear him of a decades old rape conviction, then keep them away from this movie.

Verdict:

Movie - Guilty Pleasure

Polanksi - Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200