30 DAY FILM CHALLENGE - DAY FOUR...

...A Film That Reminds You of Someone - THE CRAFT 

THE CRAFT reminds me of my friend Nadine.  We were both very much into all things witchy when this film came out and this film just inspired us all the more.  Of course this was before you could really do anything much with the internet and living in Arbroath, it wasn't the easiest of places to aquire Wiccan stuff.  We did our best though.  

 

From casting spells to doing wiccan initiation rituals and the like.  We were both at one with nature and loved nothing more than to be collecting our crystals and Wiccan books and learning as much as we could.  

  

THE CRAFT gave you teen angst, bitchiness and cliqueiness...it also demonstrated, yes albeit in a Hollywood way, that giving someone too much power and abusing the laws of nature, it never works out.  And trust me, from personal experience I can tell you that the whole thing about things coming back on you threefold if you abused that power, or if you aimed a spell at someone and then decided otherwise afterwards, it DOES come back on you.  Threefold.  

 

So yes, this movie is fun, it's freaky (spiders AND snakes - NOT GOOD!), it has strong female characters and it has a pre-Scream cutie in Skeet Ulrich and Neve Campbell.  Plus it has one of the best lines ever, and one that Elisabeth Fies recreated for THE COMMUNE...when the bus driver drops them off in the middle of the countryside and tells them to watch out for the weirdo's out there and Fairuza Balk's character Nancy replies "We are the weirdo's mister!" 

Women in Horror Recognition Month 2010 Wins Rondo for Best Fan Event

I know I'm a bit late in blogging this but I would just like to congratulate everyone who was involved with Women in Horror Recognition Month 2010 and made it possible for it to win the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Fan Event.  The Rondo's are in memory of B-movie actor Rondo Hatton, a man whom I have discovered I share a birthday with.  How cool.  So yes, R.I.P Mr Hatton, April 22, 1894 – February 2, 1946.  And also thank you to everyone who voted and made this possible and to Hannah Neurotica for starting Women in Horror Recognition Month.  You are a fucking STAR!!! :)

30 Day Film Challenge - Jurassic Park - Day Three...

...A Film You Watch To Feel Good - JURASSIC PARK

Although I have put this in this category, JURASSIC PARK also falls into my category of one of my most favourite films ever.  With the exception of the misspelling of Stegosaurus on the vile's when Dennis is stealing them, the film is PERFECT!!! :)  It is what I watch when I'm not feeling well, when I'm looking to be inspired, or just looking to have a whole load of fun.  And squeee a lot! :)

I mean just watching the trailer there is enough to give me Dinosnore sized goosebumps! :)  Anyhoo Sam Neill as Dr Alan Grant is my perfect Palaeontologist.  The moment when he first turns round and sees the herd of Brachiosaur and Parasaurolophus is one of the most perfect moments in film history and it still is like one of the biggest geekgasms of all time!

In all fairness, what is there NOT to love about JURASSIC PARK?  It is the first movie to be made about Dinosaurs that actually has the Dinosaurs looking frighteningly realistic.  And even today, 18 years since the film was first released, it doesn't look dated in the least.  

Michael Crichton had a wonderful imagination and this movie just would not have been possible without his wonderful book.  He was a truly wonderful writer, one of the all time greats if you ask me and the world is a far duller place without him, however we should all be greatful for the time he blessed up with his amazing stories. 

JURASSIC PARK is one of those movies that has everything, DINOSAURS, geekery, excitement, scares (see photo above, the kitchen scene still freaks me out), it's funny, it's sweet, you actually learn stuff from it...and oh yeah, it has DINOSAURS IN IT!!!  Simples. ;)

I also personally LOVE the sequels as well, they shall never top this bundle of awesomeness (although parts 2 and 3 DID have Stegosaurus in them) and I for one can not wait to see the gates to Jurassic Park open once more.  Bring it!  

Spooky Sean - The Boy Version of Moi, Miss Morley!

So every now and then you come across someone who is freakishly like yourself.  It doesn't matter how weird and wonderful you are, you are not alone, bwahahaha.  Anyhoo, who is this complete nut case that I speak of?  Who could possibly be another hard core X Phile, serial killer obsessed bundle of joy?  That man would be Mr Sean Thompson of Spooky Sean's Sinful Bloggery.  Put all these qualities into an incredibly talented writer with a slight (HA!) touch of ADD/hypermanic brain disorder, or order, depends how you like your order.  I like mine to be a double Morgan's and Coke please.

The awesome thing about having a total hypermanic brain Morgan's and Coke (or Morley and Coke as the kids at gigs used to call it when I was working behind the bar!) style is that it is always on the go.  Shit when you want to go to sleep but that where the drugs help, haha.  It may make conversation a little hard to follow for the Muggles in the room but what the hey, that's their loss.  The confuscled looks on their faces usually make it all the more entertaining to be honest.  It's that thing of having so much in common with someone that you finish their sentences, you understand every totally random and geektastic reference that is dropped into the conversation.  And the more obscure the better.  Who wants to be quoting random shite from skanks like Jordan and Paris Hilton, fuck it, I'd rather be plotting how I am going to kill them...save society from the detrimental effect of these mongols.  What I find disgusting is that kids actually look up to them.  It's disgusting.  Way to raise the paedophile rate, encouraging little girls to dress up like whores.  And people say A Serbian Film was bad, least that was just fiction!

*insert random Jeffrey Dahmer picture for fun*

And speaking of fiction, Sean is in the editing stages of his first book, Atrocities Across America.  A book in which he kills a lot a lotta women.  And guess what, da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...he's going to KILL ME!!!  I am so excited.  I've given him ideas as to my demise.  You'll just have to wait for the final book to relish in my kill although you can read an excerpt from the book HERE.

30 Day Film Challenge - Day Two...

Least Favourite Film - OPEN WATER

Not to be blunt or anything, but I fucking HATE this film with a passion!!!  It even beats Batman and Robin in the crap stakes!  When this giant steaming turd came out I was working at Vue Cinema in Plymouth, Engieland (for all y'all American's reading this!).  When the initial trailer and posters came out, it actually looked pretty sweet.  I was actually looking forward to it.  I mean, this poster below is pretty cool.  How wrong could I have been though!?!

When we got the print in, me and a few of the guys that I worked with stayed back later to watch it before it was released to the general public.  I don't think a single one of us liked it.  Not really a good thing when you're supposed to tell the customers what a film is about when they ask and not give your opinion.  Clearly this was impossible for someone who can't keep their gob shut for two seconds.  It pissed me off so much that so many people were coming into see this shit, it was selling out out biggest screens and there were queues out the door.  Standing on gate taking tickets and queuing people, there was lots of chit chat and I remember one guy asking me if I had seen it and were it any good.  My reply - "If you're not out within the first 15 minutes you can't get a refund."  To which he obviously asked were it that bad.  Me being the stellar customer service kinda gal replied - "It's fucking shite!"  He then ended up going to see something else that I recommended instead.  The good thing about being a movie geek and knowing your stuff is that people do generally tend to listen to you.  Haha.

So what was my problem with the film I hear you say?  Okay, the characters were two of the most annoying twats I have ever witnessed onscreen.  Big fucking whoop they got stranded in the water.  Yes, it would have been terrifying had they not been so fucking annoying.  The majority of the movie was just them floating around complaining about how shit their marriage was and that they both worked too much.  Big fucking deal.  Fair enough, we don't know what the two individuals whom this was based on talked about.  I bet they weren't this fucking boring.  And I'm pretty sure they would have known what a fucking jelly fish was when it brushed by them.

At the end of the day, it was terrible characterisation that destroyed what could have been an original and truly terrifying film.  I am shit scared of water so that would have been enough to scare the crap out of me anyway.  Not even that made me feel edgy, hell, I just wanted Sharky and George to hurry along and eat the fuckers and sell the rest of their body parts to the shark mafia of the sea.  Sure as hell would have made a more interesting film.  But then again, a bloody episode of Sharky and George had better writing and characterisation than this pish!

So yes, if you have not had the pain of watching this crap then I wouldn't recommend it.  And I like to watch shite.  Trust me, I really do.  I mean, I love SNAKES ON A TRAIN.  Haha.  But no, this is the ultimate in crapness!!!  AVOID! :)

Bloody Breasts - A Web Series by Maude Michaude

Maude Michaud is a wonderfully macabre woman who is already making a bit of a name for herself in the independent horror scene, so much so that April 3rd's Bleedfest in LA hosted by Lis and Brenda Fies had then show a retrospective of her work.  By the sounds of things it went down very well, which is ace.  As if that wasn't enough, she has just released the first episode of her new web series, Bloody Breasts.  An awesome name if ever I heard one.   You can view the first episode HERE.  

You can also read the interview I did with her back in March on this very Blog!  Enjoy!!! :)

30 Day Film Challenge - Day One...

...Favourite Film - THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

Yes, I admit that I am technically cheating here but you know what, do I care?  No!  The way I see it, I watch them as one film, henceforth I am allowed to pick them as one film.  ;)  I read the books as one, I watch the films as one, I am at ONE with the Ring. <3  These have been my favourite books along with The Hobbit since forever, I adore them to bits.  Hell. I'm more passionate about Hobbit's than I am most people, lol.

In my humble opinion, THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy is the perfect example of the magic of movies, you are literally whisked away into another world.  They have everything that one could want in a movie and I will die a happier person for these movies having been made in my lifetime.  I want to live in Middle Earth and I have to admit that as soon as Peter Jackson took over directing duties of THE HOBBIT I was over the moon! :D  And I am super happy that they have finally started filming as well.

These movies introduced me, or actually not so much introduced me as it turns out, I'd already seen most of the actors in other things, what these movies did was make me seek out practically everything that they had done.  Yes, I was ever so slightly obsessed during these years between filming and release.  And it never really went away.  Not only do these films feature incredibly talented and versatile actors, they are all so beautiful in their own little way.

By the time it came around to Return of the King, I was so completely obsessed with these movies that when I found out that if you worked in the cinema you got to see films in advance, I applied for a job in my local Vue.  It was here that I met one of the most amazing and geektastic boys you could ever meet, the absolutely wonderful Paul Moxham, one of the best co-workers I could ever ask for.  I love this guy with all my heart and it makes me so proud that he is now working for BBC Radio Devon doing lots of stuff but more importantly as their movie man!  I urge you to follow him on Twitter, you won't regret it, I promise!

So yes, THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, my favourite movie of all time, and one that brought me together with some of my most favourite people of all time.  And now I feel that I need to spend my Sunday watching them all again.  For about the millionth time. <3