How to attract more Trick or Treaters?

[MauEvig]

I think it is, Murf. There's always something that will make someone want to turn the TV off.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Neither of the above mentioned dreams recurred recently.

As for movies, I tend to gravitate towards the more traditional or gothic style horror shows, but there were a few of the old 'slasher' flicks that I liked.

I don't like seeing animals or children harmed either.

Mike

[NeverMore]

I hope you and Mike didn't watch the Walking Dead episode a couple weeks ago, Murph. Poor Carol, always having to make the tough decisions.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I more or less lost interest in the zombie movies. They seem to be getting too repetitive IMHO. Like I said, I would rather see some more traditional ghost stories, witch stories, vampires, wearwolves, haunted houses, etc.

Mike

[MauEvig]

Maybe if they did something original with the Zombie movies instead of the same stuff.
I enjoy a good zombie flick, but I get tired of the "zombie virus" or "inexplicable phenomenon" that causes people to turn into the undead once bit.
Now, what they should do is a good movie where dark magic is involved somehow in summoning the undead, or a curse. You see necromancers in video games, but not so much in movies. You might get the impression or idea that getting bit will turn you into a zombie, but if it's magic or a curse, that might not be the case. I've had zombies damage my character in games, but that doesn't make my character turn into a zombie.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed some of the zombie flicks, too. One of my all time favorite horror movies was the original "Night of the Living Dead." I saw that film for the very first time in 1972. I was alone in the house and it was truly a scary experience. But now a days it's being done to death (pardon the pun) and I would like to see some new stories and scenarios on the big and small screen. There are a bizillian haunted places in America, as there witch stories, ghost stories and the like. I would like to see Hollywood try some of those out for size, or like you say, something different on the zombie scenario like a curse or black magic.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

We don't have cable, so I have never seen The Walking Dead. I suppose it must be a very good show, since it has been so popular, but honestly, zombies are not too interesting to me. My daughter has complained that in her opinion they are the most boring of monsters. I tend to agree with her. But like I say, I haven't seen these new shows about them.

I did rent a French movie about zombies, called Les Revenants. I think it was trying to be philosophic about our attitudes toward the dead and mortality. People were overjoyed to see their lost loved ones at first, but as time went on, there didn't seem to be much place for them in their lives anymore. I suppose the new zombie craze is somehow trying to be more philosophic about them. Maybe that would be interesting. But just being afraid of some lumbering dead thing that wants to eat my brain? It's Shaun of the Dead time for me.

[MauEvig]

Realistically I don't think zombies could crawl out of the graves. Even then I think they'd have a difficult time walking, unless of course their cells are some how rejuvenated by whatever is causing them to be undead. We could probably easily outrun zombies, and I would also think the rotten flesh wouldn't be strong enough to even bite through someone's skull.

I sort of like how the zombies in Paranorman were handled. People weren't afraid of them after seeing all those zombie flicks, but those zombies were nothing like the ones in movies.

The French film sounds fascinating, and could be more depressing than scary. I'll have to check it out one of these days.

I've seen one episode of the Walking Dead, and it's pretty depressing.

Yes the zombie movies are a bit overkill, but they aught to do something original with it. Same with the vampires/werewolves really.

They should do more stories about witches and hauntings. Not all witches need to be evil either. My story ideas often have witches protecting the public from a threat, but if people kill the witch, the real threat surfaces.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Murf, I got into "The Walking Dead" for a while and found it pretty good, but I lost interest because it seemed to harp on the same scenarios over and over again.

MauEvig, I agree. A human body requires muscle power, tendons and the nervous system to function. A rotting corps can not get up and walk around because all of his or her muscles are turning to mush.

I would also like to see more 'haunted house' type horror movies too. I also like witch stories, but I am a huge fan of "The Blair Witch Project." A lot of people didn't like that show, and the camera and production techniques used to make that film have been done to death with movies like "Clover Field" and the like.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Oooh, I love witches and ghosts, haunted houses, etc. That's the kind of thing that can really get me going. I also love vampires, but they have been a bit over-done lately.

[Pumpkin_Man]

The problem with a lot of today's vampire stories is that they are a total departure from the vampire mythology of ancient lore. The "Twilight" franchises, for instance, has the vampires having daytime outdoor picknics, playing back yard baseball, cooking Italian food and living in an ultra modern house. To me, vampires are monsters who are dead by day in their coffins, rise from the dead after the sun goes down, and drinks the blood of the living.

That makes for a much better vampire story IMHO then these 'new-fangled' creatures you see in movies like "Twilight."

Mike

[MauEvig]

I don't mind a good horror/romance type story, but Twilight is overkill, and the writing isn't all that great. I'm willing to bet I could write a better horror romance than Stephanie Meyer could. I bet we all could actually. lol.
Because vampires are fictional though I suppose there's really no right or wrong way of writing them to be fair, but everyone has their own preferences. it might have been a better story if they didn't call Edward Cullin a vampire, but something else entirely. Like, I could take the same concepts of twilight and have it where they're genetically mutated into these "super humans" whose biological clock has essentially stopped, giving them the appearance of one who is ageless. The venom then acts to mutate other humans into those creatures via injection directly into the blood stream. They have a thirst for flesh, and in the sunlight act like an angular fish that draws in it's prey. That would have worked better IMO than calling them vampires. Pretty much the same or similar features to the Twilight vampires, it could work, but just call them something else. Same with the werewolves, the shapeshifters are an interesting concept and all, but maybe just call them shifters, or beast form manipulators, to throw something out there.
I like how the Underworld series handled vampires, but I was disappointed that there weren't any female werewolves on the lycan team. Still a pretty cool story with a biological twist on how vampires work so they aren't really undead.
I could have sworn vampire hunter D had two types of vampires, and I think one of those was more zombie-like than anything, while the others were more intelligent like Dracula (who was D's father, D being a Dhampir, a half vampire)
Balkan folklore tells about Dhampirs according to wikipedia.

[Pumpkin_Man]

My problem is that I was born and raised on a steady diet of the Barnabas Collins / Count Dracula vampire, the evil monster who lives in very old houses, rests in a coffin by day, and seeks out innocent victims for their blood at night. I just don't get into these new fangled scenarios. As for horror romance, I think both the original "Dark Shadows" and the revival series both had plenty of romance in them.

Mike

[NeverMore]

Now, what they should do is a good movie where dark magic is involved somehow in summoning the undead, or a curse.

You may get your wish in the new TV series 'Salem'. Funny, I haven't heard much about this series. Don't even know if it's going to be set in modern times like 'Sleepy Hollow'.

As far as the 'Walking Dead' goes, I don't consider it a zombie show, it's more a human drama centered around zombies. The real threat in this series is the living. As Rick Grimes famously said... "They are not the living dead, we are."

[Pumpkin_Man]

I'll have to check "Salem" out.

Mike