Hooptober 9 #12
So I watched this for the special 50th episode of the Blake’s Buzz podcast, where I guested alongside famed comic writer Cullen Bunn.
I was worried as hell about watching this one. I let my guard down once I saw the monster in the first minute (and the monster actually looked good). Turns out that was a mistake.
We have a guy who runs into the creepiest crematorium ever (because I'm sure tiny rural towns in the…
I can't believe I forgot to review this when I saw it... so now a month later (give or take) I'm going to have to go mostly on memory.
This movie was like one of those completely sexist, racist problematic pulp magazine covers come to life. It was hyper-masculine to the point of misogyny. And I was just completely bedazzled and enthralled by the film's commitment. It was like a feature-length NC-17 Old Spice commercial set in the Indiana Jones-verse.…
Just thinking about this as an homage to all the Gremlins-inspired little puppet mischief maker movies (Ghoulies, Munchies, Critters, etc.) will not prepare you for how absolutely bizarre this movie is. Keep it that way until you invite friends over for a movie night and throw this bad boy on.
Ok. So this film comes two years after Cameron Crowe breaks through with writing Fast Times. He gets anointed the voice of the youth (I'm assuming since I wasn't speaking full sentences when it came out). And the producer, Art Linson, decides to tap wunderkind Crowe for another ribald slice-of-life teen comedy that comes out 2 years later.
I don't know what Crowe was going through in his personal life or how he was reacting to all the attention from…
I was really picking up what Tobe Hooper was putting down. Seriously, how is there not more buzz around this movie as an all-time classic?!
Now one of my favorite opening credits of all-time. And a PERFECT example, just like with Creepshow, of creating a pre-code horror comic on film. The shots and set pieces and colors were on-point. The characters were sufficiently caricatured to be ludicrous. And the plot mechanics are just terrific.
The set up is way bigger…
My first Hooptober movie of the season, and I'm glad to have started with it.
At multiple points I forgot that this movie came out in 2009. The dedication to not just the style of the era, but also to the cinematic style of the era, was admirable.
There was nothing revolutionary here in terms of plot or horror, really... it was just a very well-done horror flick. West's ability to generate suspense is among the best of working directors.…
