With 13 Days of Sequels I’ll be reviewing horror sequels every weekday for the last two weeks of October. You can view all entries HERE.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that innocent, wide-eyed naïveté of which all outside stimuli is consumed and filtered through when you’re a child. The uncritical, accepting fondness for something, simply from not having the knowledge or reference point of anything else.
I enjoy being a somewhat jaded, somewhat snobbish free-thinking adult who is able to analyze and interpret the art and media he consumes – but man, I do look back on those early days of watching movies without judgment fondly. That sort-of unrealized thought process of, y’know, “just throw whatever at me now and let me figure it out in 15 or 20 years when I’m all grown up”. And it’s clear to me now that my open-minded opinion on certain films exists only because I devoured them on an empty head – for which I’m incredibly grateful. Continue reading 13 Days of Sequels: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 →
Miles Chapin’s “Richie”, from Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse, is the perfect embodiment of the troped-out ’80s horror that was happening at the time: he’s a high schooler who looks to be in his late-20s (possibly early-30s); he’s an insufferable WASPy geek, yet has a gorgeous girlfriend; and, despite being a bespectacled lame-o, his best friend is the high school football team’s all-star quarterback, Buzz Dawson. It was the ’80s, baby. It didn’t have to make sense as long as everyone was so obnoxious that you rooted for the bad guy.
Richie is also a wannabe preppy, which makes him even more detestable. Imagine a combination of Tim Matheson’s snarky shit-eating expressions mixed with Harry Anderson’s general punchability, and you’ve got your basic Richie. Every time he opens his mouth, you just know some dumb shit is gonna come out of it. And that’s something that people often fail to realize about geeks: not all of them are smart. Continue reading HORROR NERD OF THE MONTH: Richie! →
I love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I first saw it as a teenager and was immediately blown away. It was so different than any other horror film I’d seen up until that point. I’d been raised on slick, accessible franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was gritty, sweaty, caked in blood. It was unpredictable, unrefined, and dangerous. From that point on, it became my favorite horror film. It still is. Honestly? It will forever be. Continue reading New Thoughts on THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) →
Tobe Hooper’s career has been spotty at best, but this was one of his early gems that got lost in the shuffle. Essentially, four teens hide on a carnival ride until the fair closes down for the night. At one point, they witness a carnie murder another, and soon they find themselves being hunted by the deformed, blood-thirsty monster and his barker father. The film has great atmosphere — what’s spookier than a carnival and it’s weird caravan of workers? Lastly, Rob Zombie couldn’t have made House of 1000 Corpses if it weren’t for Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Funhouse.
Horrorstuffs & humor / don't tell yer granny
Camera Viscera 