Welcome To October

[Pumpkin_Head]

Hi folks:

Well it's official. The 2019 Halloween Season is here, and it's time to get real serious about having creepy Halloween fun! Today, as soon as I got out of bed, I took my medications, and then the first thing I did was screen "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Today's movie is going to be the original 1977 "Halloween." and there will be several episodes of "Dark Shadows" as well. Through out the month of October I will be screening "Dark Shadows," "Friday the 13th the Series," and "Bates Motel" just to name a few. Each day, however, will feature a movie, and the movie for Today is the original "Halloween."

Mike

[Andybev01]

I've already watched GPCB a few times since September 1st, but truthfully I watch it several times a year .

A recent favorite is the David S. Pumpkins Halloween special.

It's so stupidly adorable.

[Murfreesboro]

I watched Sleepy Hollow yesterday and From Hell the day before. Next up is probably the Dark Shadows movie--a Johnny Depp trilogy.

[Pumpkin_Head]

Yesterday it was a direct release to DVd "Isabell. Today it was "Kolchak the Night Stalker" and when I log off, the original 1963 "The Haunting."

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I love that version! My favorite haunted house movie!

Yesterday I watched The Nun for the first time. Later we went in a different direction with Haunted Mansion.

[Pumpkin_Head]

The original "The Haunting" and "The Changeling" are my two all time favorite haunted house flicks. "Rose Red" is my favorite haunted house tv miniseries.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I pulled out The Haunting today because you mentioned it. So well made. I love how they rely on camera angles, acting, and sound effects rather than special visual effects.

[Andybev01]

'The Innocents' tops my list of haunted house films.

Deborah Kerr builds a crescendo of paranoia that is unsurpassed in my opinion.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I hadn't thought about that one for a while! I wish I had it on DVD.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I have "The Innocents" berried in my DVD collection some place, but I found it a little slow moving and the lighting was a little too dark, but it was a good story. I went and saw "It Chapter 2" at my local theatre last Friday, and to coin a phrase, it was nothing to write home about. It was a good story, but the film was drawn out to over 2 hours, and moved very slowly.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

In some ways horror films are like comedies. Pacing is everything in both genres, and neither should last too long.

I haven't seen The Innocents in years, but I am very familiar with the story. It is based on a Henry James novella, and he was a big gun in turn-of-the-century American lit. I took a seminar on him in grad school.

There is an opera based on The Innocents, too. I want to say Benjamin Britten wrote it, but I'm not sure.

[Pumpkin_Head]

A lot of movies now a days are based on novellas or short stories, which is part of the problem. An anthology would be a better approach. One of the best books I ever read was by Stephen King. "Night Shift" was the title of the book, and it was a collection of short stories, each one of them quite good. It was one of the very few books I read all the way through in one sitting, it was that good. If movie makers would take an anthology approach, they could probably get 2, maybe even 3 movies out of that that would be good. Also, please, in the name of all that is Halloween sacred, try to AVOID low key lighting and audio levels that are kept barely above a whisper. That makes it hard to follow the story, causes eye and ear strain, and over all makes the film BORING!

Mike

[Andybev01]

Oh, I hadn't thought about that one for a while! I wish I had it on DVD.

The link below will take you to the complete movie on YouTube the only thing is there are Spanish subtitles at the bottom throughout the whole movie, but if you could ignore that it's free for the taking... So to speak.

https://youtu.be/ktvn-UFNJkM

[Andybev01]

"That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain."

- Ray Bradbury

[Murfreesboro]

Thanks for the link, Andy! I'll check it out.