GROOVERS & MOBSTERS PRESENT: HORROR

It’s once again time to take part in that brain child from the folks over at Movie Mobsters and the Fandango Groovers Movie Blog. Wherein we look at films that standout in or have an influence on a particular genre of film. This time out, we’re taking a look at HORROR FILMS. After all, it’d be a lame time to look at Christmas films! Here’s my selection:

“Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills! The people it kills get up and kill!”

Anyone that knows me knows that I think Zombies are the end all be all of the Horror genre. And when it comes to Zombies, no one does it better than George A. Romero. Romero has made 6 Zombie films in his “of the Dead” series to date and while Night of the Living Dead is the Bible for all that follow, Dawn of the Dead remains the best film he’s ever made. Here’s the basic idea:

In this first sequel to Night of the Living Dead, a group of four people take up residence in a deserted mall while trying to stay alive amidst the armies of the dead and a vicious gang of militant bikers.

“Dawn”, or the one that takes place in the mall, succeeds on so many levels. First, who hasn’t thought about having free reign over all the stuff in a mall. It’s every consumer’s dream… regardless of whether or not the world is going to hell around you. Second, Zombies make such interesting baddies on film because (a) they’re just relentless and endless and (b) they’re basically us. I mean, what better way to make man take a good look at himself and what he’s capable of than to pit him against his own self. Another thing that makes “Dawn” great is that it was the first time that Romero also began to explore the world beyond people just trying to survive and began to look at the way the living would treat each other if ever they were in a situation where rules and laws no longer applied… turns out, not so good.

To this day, I rarely come across Horror films that are let alone good but offer up chills to boot. Dawn does both and if you haven’t seen it yet, well… get on that!

Here’s the film’s trailer:

You can see all the films chosen for this edition of Groovers & Mobsters Present by CLICKING HERE!!!

FILMS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED TO SEE 666

Looking for a cool Horror movie to see on Halloween night? Well, then you’ve come to the right place! How cool is it that the 6th (or 666) edition of FILMS YOU DIDN’T KNOW… fell on Halloween? I know, right? For those of you guys and gores new to the site, here’s the rundown on how this post works…

There are several movies out there that don’t necessarily get the same recognition or promotion as others. Films that at times can be quite good. Films that are currently collecting dust in the “Favorites” aisle at your local video store. We here at THE LIST have taken it upon ourselves to bring these films to the forefront and present you, the movie going public, a list of FILMS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED TO SEE.

This time around, we are presenting you with the all horror edition to help with some spooky suggestions for your Halloween viewing pleasure. To help me out this time around, I’ve recruited the following:

Terri from GOREGIRL’S DUNGEON: The queen of gore serves up her 2nd contribution to these posts.
Andy from FANDANGO GROOVERS MOVIE BLOG: Also a repeat contributor with a unique spin for this outting.
Meredith Carter from M. CARTER AT THE MOVIES: Returns fresh off an October Horror Marathon.
Jason from INVASION OF THE B-MOVIES: The King of all things “B”.
And to kick things off, your friendly neighborhood…

KAIDERMAN:

TRICK ‘r TREAT (2007).

If Halloween (the movie) is the Miracle on 34th Street of Halloween (the holiday) then Trick ‘r Treat is easily the Christmas Story of the fall and should be watched everytime October 31st roles around to get in the mood for the spookiest of holidays. Told very much in the vein of the old Creepshow films, this little flick tells 4 intertwining stories, set at Halloween, that encompasses everything that makes Halloween great: Werewolves, Vampires, Serial Killers, Urban Legends, Ghost Stories and creepy little monsters with potato sacks on their head. Also, a good watch for people who don’t handle Horror too well.

FEAST (2005).

You guys remember that whole Project Greenlight thing where Ben Affleck and Matt Damon had a show on Bravo to give unknowns a chance to write and direct their own projects while Bravo made a TV show chronicling the entire process? Don’t feel bad… not many do. However, their last outting produced a fun film to watch starring Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins, Jason Mewes and a smoking hot Krista Allen as, quite simply, patrons locked in a bar fending off genetically mutated animal monsters. Very tongue-in-cheek and fun to watch… spawned a few sequels as well!

MY TOP 5 HORROR SUB-GENRES

I don’t know about you guys but I LOVE Horror movies. With Halloween looming, and so many Horror movies out there to see, I started to think about what kind of Horror movies I like the best. Here are my Top 5 (in order):

5. SLASHER FILMS.

Examples: Prom Night, Black Christmas, Scream

I don’t know about you but, aside from burning alive and drowning, being stabbed has always seemed like the worst way to go out. I’ve often said I could die a happy man if I could just manage to avoid being stabbed in my life. While the Slasher Film has lost a lot of what made it so popular in the 70’s and 80’s the films featuring mad men lurking in the shadows with a large butcher’s knife still get my goat!

4. MOVIE MONSTERS.

Examples: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play

I touched on this in our Top 15 Horror Movie Baddies post. There’s something great about a Horror movie that is set around an interesting villain with a rich mythology. In a way, by creating a deep back story for these movie maniacs, we feel compelled not only to root for their victims but for the baddies themselves. Plus, it makes everything they do seem justifiable in a twisted way and all the more creepy. 

3. TORTURE PORN.

Examples: Hostel, Wrong Turn, Midnight Meat Train, Saw

Gorefests like these aren’t for everyone but for someone as tainted as me they are pure bloody candy! I must admit that they have begun to grow a bit wearisome. I still don’t mind the more mainstream gorefests out there but the secondary market on these films has gotten really bad. The fact that someone is having their arm sawed off or their eye removed in a slow and arduous manner is not what makes these films fun. It’s the story surrounding why. Still, I love seeing some limbs unnecessarily amputated in interesting new ways!

2. “REAL-LIFE” FOOTAGE FILMS.

Examples: The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity

Films like these are hard to do. The 2 above are the only 2 I can think of that have completely got it right. When these films fail, you feel like you’re watching a movie the second the first image hits the screen. When it mildly succeeds, you get  something like the 4th Kind. However, when a filmmaker nails it, you get some of the most terrifying images ever caught on film. The realism is what makes these films work and if it’s done right, well, good luck sleeping tonite.

1. END OF THE WORLD SCENARIOS.

Examples: Night of the Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, [REC], 28 Weeks Later

I don’t know if these are the scariest films out there but I still LOVE any film that grapples with the topic of humans trying to survive in a world they have lost control of and that is slowly trying to consume them. Be it an alien invasion, an infectious outbreak, Zombies or pod people, these movies are money in my book!

What about you guys? What are your favorite types of Horror films?

MILFcast (aka: the Man, I Love Films podcast) – Episode 9

For the Hallloween Episode of MILFcast, I am joined by my irregular co-host Heather Roddy of Movie Mobsters and guest Nich Jobe of Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob to cover the following:

– What SCARY movies we’ve been watching.

– What is a Zombie?

– Spooky Movie News.

– We put our lives on the line for a game of Kai’s Always Right.

– And we play THE GAME!!! Um… BOO!

You can find MILFcast on podOmatic by clicking here. You can also subscribe or download for free on iTunes. Please drop a comment or leave any feedback on the episode below or send me an e-mail at: kai_parker@yahoo.com

Here are the standings for THE GAME thus far (21 = Perfect Score):
1. Die-lan Fields – 19 points
2. Ra-Kill Thuro – 15 points
3. Mad Hacker – 13 points
T-4. Andy “Bloody” Hart – 12 points
T-4. Melody Quim-bowels – 12 points
T-5. Dead-er Roddy – 11 points
T-5. Jessi-Cut Throat Rogers – 11 points
6. Scott “Chop your head” Knopf – 10 points
7. Whitney Boo-rup – 9 points

NEW MUSIC for the podcast provided by Steve Bush of The Bill Shakespeares who can be found at http://thebillshakespeares.com

TOP 15 HORROR MOVIE BADDIES

Let’s be honest… Horror movies need 3 things to be great. Hot naked women, good gory kills and an unforgettable bad guy! Here’s my Top 15 of the latter (in order):

15. THE INVISIBLE MAN.

You have no idea how hard it was to find an image of this character! While the Invisble Man makes the list, I don’t think he’s acheived his full potential on film yet. The idea of a man drunk on power having the ability to move amongst us without our knowledge is a creepy thing as the possibilities for evil are endless.

14. REAGAN.

My feelings on The Exorcist are well known so I’ll just say that Reagan makes the list because she scares me so much that I’ve never been able to finish the movie.

13. POLTERGEIST.

Theeeeey’re heeeeere… at #13. I had a huge tree outside my childhood window that scared the hell out of me after I saw this movie. Luckily, I knew better than to collect clown dolls. Why everyone doesn’t I’ll never know. This list would be incomplete if it didn’t include some form of spectre and, in that department, Poltergeist is #1. The scary thing about them is that you don’t know how to get rid of them and never really know if they’re TRULY gone. The bad Karma that surrounded the making of this film makes it all the creepier. Speaking of creepy…

RANKING ROMERO

My love of Zombies is no secret. So, with Halloween right around the corner, I thought we should take a look at the man behind the greatest Zombie movies of all time: George Romero. While “The Man”, a title he shares with his Doppelganger Stan Lee, has done some other great films, for our purposes here today we will focus on his groundbreaking Zombie films. Here’s the skinny on these 2 awesome trilogies:

6. SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD.

Survival or “…” is the only real disappointment in the series for several reasons. For one, it’s not really a Zombie movie. It’s more of a story of feuding families set in a world full of Zombies. It’s also the first film to use characters from another film in the series. I always liked the series because there was no continuity. Each was a seperate tale of people trying to survive in this effed up world Romero created. Not to mention, it was unnecessary to do as it had no impact on the story and the characters used were merely side characters that pop up briefly in…

IS IT JUST ME?

This weekend on the very special Halloween edition of MILFcast (aka: the Man, I Love Films podcast), we are set to have a debate I’ve been waiting a long time to have… and I want your feedback on the issue. My guest, Nick Jobe of Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob, is a firm believer that films like 28 Days Later are NOT Zombie films. I happen to feel quite the opposite…

Is it just me?

TOP 10 MOVIES: JOHN HUGHES

It’s great to find lists on THE LIST again, isn’t it? To keep with the theme of making them as challenging as possible, I’ve picked one of the most talented men around for this week’s Top 10 Movies!

John Hughes’ passing was one of the saddest things that ever happened to Hollywood. I dare you to find a screenwriter with a better resume featuring so many diverse films. SERIOUSLY! Hughes gets pigeonholed as being the teen comedy guy but his reach goes so far beyond that. He’s had some flops, don’t get me wrong, but his greats are more than that. They’re classics! What makes them so great comes from Hughes’ ability to balance comedy with understanding relationships of all types. Not to mention he manages to capture the experience of growing up better than anyone… something we can all identify with.

This was literally like trying to pick my favorite kid but I managed to pull it off. So, here we go (in order):

SIDENOTE: I have not seen She’s Having a Baby, Some Kind of Wonderful or Curly Sue so they are not in contention for this list!

10. PRETTY IN PINK.

I wanted to put The Great Outdoors at #10. Editor-in-Chief convinced me that Pretty in Pink needs to be on this list. I agree… it is a good film. It’s just that I’m a dude. So, I’ll just say that Pretty in Pink makes it for Duckie cuz that guy is awesome and he never gets a break.

MILFcast (aka: the Man, I Love Films podcast) – Episode 8

Episode 8 of MILFcast… also known as the 10-10-10 episode… features myself bringing the usual high levels of awesome along with my guests Jess (from Insight Into Entertainment) and Rachel (of Rachel’s Reel Reviews). The dynamic duo behind the Reel Insight podcast. A pretty awesome podcast in it’s own right! Here’s what we covered:

– What we’ve been watching.

– For Halloween: We discuss the movies that scare the shit out of us!

– We play “Kai’s Always Right”.

– Talk a little Movie News.

– And we play THE GAME!!!

You can find MILFcast on podOmatic by clicking here. You can also subscribe or download for free on iTunes. Please drop a comment or leave any feedback on the episode below or send me an e-mail at: kai_parker@yahoo.com

Here are the standings for THE GAME thus far (21 = Perfect Score):
1. Dylan Fields – 19 points
2. Mad Hatter – 13 points
T-3. Andy Hart – 12 points
T-3. Melody Quimbao – 12 points
4. Heather Roddy – 11 points
5. Scott Knopf – 10 points
6. Whitney Borup – 9 points

15 DIRECTORS MEME

It seems I have contracted a new strain of MEME. Special thanks to Marc at Go-See-Talk for that… I knew I should have used protection but he told me I had pretty eyes! Anyway, for this one, I am tasked with naming 15 directors who have helped shape the way I look at motion pictures. Here are my choices (in no particular order):

SIDENOTE: I could probably do a list of 100 so I just put down the first 15 that came to mind.

1. The Wachowski Brothers.

If you’re going to talk about filmmakers who changed the way you watch films, you have to mention the guys behind The Matrix. They literally changed the way action films were made by raising and setting the bar.