30 Day Horror Movie Challenge - The Last Horror Movie You Saw in a Theater

Okay it sucks that I haven't seen another horror in the cinema since Insidious...that shows how lame cinema's here are for seeing horror...however, it is also with great  pleasure that I get to write about this film as my last cinema visit as this is what horror cinema is truly about!

From the very opening credit sequence I was hooked.  It was literally a thing of beauty and awe!  Now yes, I admit, I have openly geeked over my love of director James Wan and writer/actor Leigh Whannell from the very first time I watched Saw!  I fucking love these guys, they are amazing at what they do and I can happily say that James is one of the coolest guys I know and he is always a pleasure to speak too.  And a dork...can't forget the dork part! ;)  So yesss, much love already, haha.  Anyhoo....

From the moment that the title INSIDIOUS blares across the screen in all its glory, I literally wanted to be sucked into the film!  It is easily one of my all time favourite opening sequences of a movie...it's THAT good!!!

There is this beautiful creepiness about Insidious, the kind that is rare in horror today.  It exists but you have to dig beneath the surface...a favourite of recent times is definitely The House of the Devil...that film is fucking perfect and brilliant and creepy as fuck!!!!

The basic plot of course is that a couple and their family move into a new house, a beautiful house at that...damn you Heidi fucking Honeycutt and your review I read previous to seeing the film.  Heidi, as lovely as she is (man I want to go out drinking with her, haha!!!) did a review that kept running through my head "how can they afford to live in a house like that!?!"  I am clueless to American house prices so was able to put that aside but still had Heidi like the wicked devil, singing in the back of my head.  Haha.  Damn you Heidi!!!

Anyhoo back to the house...whilst exploring the oh so cool house, the young boy falls and bangs his head.  He goes to bed and the next morning when the dad goes to wake him up, he won't wake up leading the doctors to believe that he is in a coma.  Lots of totally freaktarded things start to happen and the family think that the house is haunted.  But lo and behold, it turns out that it's not the house that's haunted, but the child!  

I'm not going to give anymore away for those of you who haven't seen this brilliant film, one that is easily one of my favourite films of the past decade.  It's ace in every sense.  Whilst being a wonderful tribute to films such as Poltergeist...my first horror experience, it is also an amazing nod to the superbly creeptastic Carnival of Souls.

Whilst being a thowback to the films of old, it also had a very original feel to it and I absolutely LOVED it...it was the perfect horror in a world full of saturated bullshit!  It was also amazing to have James Wan and Leigh Whannell back...it seems like forever since the amazing and criminally underrated Death Sentence was released.  And ooh, FYI, it turns out that Death Sentence is actually my sister's boyfriend Brett...or Cockonomics, haha, favourite movie of all time...a fact that most definitely made me smile!  So yesss, Team Wan/Whannell all the way!  And whilst Leigh told James that he wasn't allowed to have creepy puppets in the movie, the creepiest puppet master still manages to sneak them in, bwahahaha.  I recommend watching this movie in a pitch black room with a glass of wine, and prepare to be freaked the hell out!!! :P

Why The Crow is One of the BEST Films EVER! And Should NOT Be Remade...EVER!!!

"If two people are meant to be together...nothing can keep them apart!"

Okay so when it comes to remakes and what not, I have been known in the past to stomp my feet and throw my toys out of the pram, i.e. The Omen (yes I started a petition against that ginger twat!!!)...I can actually support them, yes, I did support Rob Zombie's Halloween. *ducks*  When it comes to The Crow however, it actually makes me actually physically sick.  It's like that feeling when you ache for the love of your life when they are not there...this is how I feel.  Like my heart has been ripped out.  My eyes physically sting from the tears welling up inside at the thought.  The Crow is more than a precious film, it is a tragically perfect film.  One that should be re-released in cinemas for a new generation to enjoy...and if they don't like it as it's not "modern enough" then they can go fuck themselves...simples.

"A building get's torched, all that is left is ashes.  I used to think that it is true about everything - family, friends, feelings - but now I know that sometimes, if love proves real, and two people are meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart."

This film is the ultimate love story.  It is the story of two people destined to be together in a seriously fucked up world.  It is a story that I crave...I want to live in it!

"Who the fuck get's married on Halloween anyhow?" -  One of my favourite quotes in the movie, who wouldn't want to get married on Halloween.  <3  It's the perfect holiday to get married on. :)

As I said before, everything about this movie is tragically perfect.  The life of Rochelle Davis, otherwise known as Sarah in the movie; it has been plagued by tragedy and in fact heavily reflected the life that her onscreen mother actually lives in The Crow.  Thankfully she is turning her life around now which makes me so happy.  The Crow was her first and only role, with the exception of a cameo part in 2009's Hell House.  For anyone to have made such an impact with one film, is evidence of a true and unique talent.  As an advocate for women I think that the experiences that Rochelle has been through in life, makes her a true inspiration and I love her so much! <3

Obviously the tragedy that we focus on most however, is that of Brandon Lee's death.  For an actor to die on set is a horrible, tragic thing.  For an actor to have just done the role of his life, such as Brandon in The Crow...it is sad, it is depressing...and it brings on such a sense of melancholy that to attempt to remake it, it's sick! 

Now I don't have a problem with the director assigned to The Crow remake...in fact I rather like 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo...I just think he should be using his talents to make unique, original films.  Although, IF....and I say IF with gritted teeth...the movie has to be made...I'd rather it was in the hands of someone I like than some douchebag like, hmmm, Michael Bay!!!  But still...all these fucking rumours about actors such as Bradley Cooper (who I like!), Mark Wahlberg (who when good is GREAT, and when bad is....*shudder*) and Channing fucking Tatum...WHAT THE FLYING FUCKTARD!?!!!  He's too ugh to play Eric Draven!!!  

Those rumours aside...I appeal to anyone who has their moohlah in this film...DO NOT REMAKE IT!  The thought itself is criminal.  It is a film of beauty.  A film of perfection.  That level of perfection shall never be achieved again.  To remake a film of this calibre...there is too much too it.  Not only to remake the film, but to remake what is without a doubt one of the most perfect soundtracks of all time....impossible.  The soundtrack, like the film, is perfect.,  It is that perfect image of the 90's grunge scene...a music scene that to this day is damn near impossible to replicate.  

Sarah - "You're gonna say I should be in a cemetery in the middle of the night" "Safest place in the world to be" - Eric Draven "It's because everybody's dead!" - Sarah

Perfection!!!!

30 Day Horror Movie Challenge - Your First Horror Movie

The first time I saw Poltergeist, I was 6 years old...the film freaked the crap out of me!  The thing is, like all things that scare the beejeesus out of me, there is a good reason behind it - that reason would be an overactive imagination and a great big bloody spooky tree outside my bedroom window.  Now, by nature I am a tree people, I love trees, generally the older and spookier the better.  But given the right lightening and shadows, they can be downright freakin' creepy!  This was the case with the tree outside my bedroom window, it totally reminded me of the tree that I had witnessed in all its glorious creeptasticness in this film I'd seen whilst having a sleepover at my friend Rhiona's.  This was also the first time I saw The Goonies as well, woot woot!!!

Every night when lying in bed I'd see the shadow of this demonic tree and would think the poltergeist's were coming to get me too, aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  Even now when I watch it I still find it creepy.  It's such a wonderful film and one that has remained awesome with age too.  With the combination of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg though, what more would you expect!?!

Obviously the most tragic thing about Poltergeist legacy is the tragic death of Heather O'Rourke, the young, intensely blonde child who played Carol Anne Freeling in the three movies.  The year after Poltergeist 2, Heather was diagnosed with the horrid Crohn's disease and was medicated to control it.  She tragically died a year later at the age of 12, her death was listed as cardiopulmonary arrest and intestinal stenosis.  Her mother blames a wrong diagnosis when she first got ill as the reason she died so young.  It's a horrible story and one that makes her amazing performance in this film even eerier, just knowing that she died such a short time after.  Heather O'Rourke will forever be remembered as the little blonde girl from the Poltergeist movies and I guess there are far worse things to be remembered for.  It's just a shame we didn't get to see more from her, I'm sure she would have grown up to become a brilliant actress...as long as she didn't fall prey to the other problems associated with child actors...A.K.A. Drew Barrymore!  Whilst Drew however managed to pull it together again, so many other child actors have been lost due to drink and drugs...which is a sad state of affairs.

All of this aside though, Poltergeist remains my first true horror movie experience, and I LOVE it!!!  I just don't love trees outside my bedroom window! ;)

Luther - The BBC Show from an American Perspective in the Form of Monty Hawes!!!

My dear peoples of the Jeniverse, I decided to do something a wee bitty different on my blog.  You will all know how much I LOVE the BBC show Luther, and its leading man Mr Idris Elba...sooooo I decided that as the lovely Monty Hawes was such a big fan, I'd get him to write a piece, kind of as a way to get the American perspective on it!  So ho ho, here y'all go...ENJOY! :)

 

My good friend Jennifer Cooper of Musings of a Morleysaurus has asked me to write a little something about the great UK series Luther, starring Idris Elba. She wanted to hear what an American thinks of the series and she knows I am a fan. Of course she has already seen season 2, while we here in America have to wait for BBCAmerica to air the second season in October.

Everyone who has followed this thrilling series knows that it centers on a brilliant, yet troubled English police detective named John Luther. So I won’t give another review of the outstanding first season which had John dealing with the repurcussions of  putting down a serial killer. He was placed on suspension until all the facts were sorted out about how the killer almost died before being brought in.

Luther is the type of detective that will do anything to bring criminals to justice. The means justify the ends if you will. Which put Luther on a different level from other contemporary TV detectives. What I really like about this show is how they focus quite a bit on his personal life as much as his work life. On American detective shows, you rarely get a glimpse into their personal lives. I mean yeah you get to meet their spouses and kids sometimes and they hang out at the bar with some friends but that is about it. On Luther, you get to deal with his personal life vividly. His problems with his wife is brought front and center. And he has to juggle both his work and personal lives, but on this series  the two will come to clash very violently.

I like the fact that this series is very story and character driven and doesn't rely on action scenes to carry it through. You really care what happens to the characters and become very invested in them over the course of the season. Not to say that they skimp on the action. There is some cool action scenes spread out over the series and they are very thrilling. This is how you make a terrific TV series. America please take note.

I think Idris Elba is just freaking unbelievable. I don’t think anyone will argue that point. I know Jennifer thinks he is awesome and I won’t dispute that. This show depends on his character a lot and Elba does not disappoint. He is such a talented actor and his portrayal of this intelligent but flawed man is very impressive. But every hero needs a good adversary and Luther has one in the beautiful murderer Alice Morgan (played by Ruth Wilson). She and Luther played cat and mouse over the course of the first season and it is a joy to watch. These two seem to bring out the best in each other and Alice seems to be enjoying her dealings with John. She considers this a game. 

That's another thing about this series being above and beyond anything we have here in America. Most detective shows open with the killer or bad guy doing something and by the time the credits roll, they are either dead or in prison. Here we have a person who did kill and got away with it but is still part of the show and very integral to it I might add. I only expect more good things from Alice in the upcoming season 2. Oh god, Jennifer..Alice does return for season 2 right. She has to. I hope so. Don't tell me any specifics just let me know if Alice comes back, yes or no.  She's back for a bit...not a lot but she is definitely still around...the crazy chickadee that she is!!! :)

Anyway, I think Luther is top notch. I rank it right up there with another classic UK detective series...Prime Suspect with the great Helen Mirren. In fact these two series are very comparable as Prime Suspect delved into Jane Tennison personal life as much as Luther does. In fact this would make a great double bill one weekend. Prime Suspect and Luther. Hell Yeah! New idea! You know what would be cooler..a crossover between the two. Tennison is called back in to help Luther with a tough case. Awww, man I'm already geeking out over that possibility. Jennifer, me and you could write it and send it in and see what the top brass thinks. You game?  Haha, that sounds like a pretty damn awesome idea Monty! :)

Well I just wanted to share some of my insights on why I think Luther rocks. I hope this was an enjoyable enough read. Thanks Jennifer for having me do this. And I would love to do a follow-up on this once I see Luther season 2. Do we have a deal?  I can't wait for you to finally get to see Season 2, I know you're gonna love it...despite it being criminally short dammit!!!

Thank you to Monty for this rather insightful Yankee Doodle look into the brilliance of Luther, you do indeed rock!  :P  And ooh, before I forget, you should totally check out both of his blogs All Good Things and Hero Worship!!!  They are both super awesome and totally rad~core! :)

Fright Bytes Episode 7 - Swatting Up on your Vampire Knowledge...Spiderpira Style!!!

Forget all this Twilight wannabe vampire stuff, here's the real deal...and what could be more gorgeous than Spiderpira, heehee, or Miss Lianne Spiderbaby...with freakin' Elvira!?!?!!!  Answer to that question - NOTHING...of course! ;)  Actually, Spiderpira and Elvira is a bit of a tease as to what to expect from the next episode of Fright Bytes where Spiderpira is covering San Diego Comic-Con and meets up with the legendary Elvira, however, I thought this picture perfect to display what's going on in this episode of Fright Bytes!

So yesss, you might have guessed, the latest episode of the amazing Fright Bytes is focusing on vampires!  If you ever wanted a short and sweet, yet highly informative session on the history of vampires then it's all here in this latest episode.  Definitely worth checking out, as are some of the films that Lianne mentions that I've never actually seen.  Here, here to education on a little blood sucking.  And more importantly, it's worth watching just for how much I LOOOOVE the way Lianne says Nosferatu! <3  Heehee!  Also much love to Lianne's brother Steve as well who makes an awesome co-host...clearly awesomeness runs in the family!  Yay!  Check out all the goodness below and be sure to subscribe to the Fright Bytes channel on YouTube as well as check in to LIKE the page for the show on Facebook!  Cheers my dears! ;)

Captain America - A Most Excellent Avenger in My Humble Opinion!

So yay, went to see Captain America and I have to say, I thought it was great!  Despite some ropey, way too digital scenes, it was the perfect summer popcorn flick!  When I posted on my Facebook page the question as whether to see it in 2D or 3D a nice big long debate started.  The only reason I'd even considered 3D was purely for the time and getting trains back and stuff...in the end though, it made more sense to see it in 2D.  Personally I am not a fan of 3D, I find it gives me a headache more than anything.  When I saw The Dark Knight at the IMAX in London, the opening sequence in 3D was great but that was more than enough for me personally.  And ooh, FYI, did you know, the only bits of The Dark Knight that Heath Ledger saw before his death was in the IMAX in London with Christopher Nolan, how geektastic is that?? :)

Anyhoo, the scenes that I considered to be a bit ropey were the ones that were blatantly made for 3D...something that at the end of the day took you a way from the story a bit and made it almost like a video game.  The movie as a whole was fab though, it wasn't perfect but it was enjoyable enough that it meant that I was able to forgive Joe Johnston for these scenes that weren't so great!

Chris Evans was ace in the role of Captain America, and was clearly the perfect choice.  One thing that I particularly liked was the fact that even though Captain America is your true patriotic American boy, the film didn't feel preachy or filled with the 'we're American, we're so amazing' bullshit that it could have been oozing with, and that was really quite refreshing.

I loved Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, he definitely had the Stark quality about him that we love so much about Tony Stark...he just wasn't as much of a playboy as his son would turn out to initially be, haha.  The supporting cast as a whole was great, especially Tommy Lee Jones, the army colonel who was more than bemused when scientist Dr Abraham Erskine picked a tiny 90lb, asthmatic Steve Rogers as the man he wanted as the ultimate super soldier.  As for Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, superb!!!

Another cast member who was absolutely wonderful was the lovely Peggy Carter, played by Haley Atwell.  Not only was she one kick ass, fearless chick, she also did it with such wonderful style, looking fab throughout the movie!  Loved her! <3

And speaking of a tiny 90lb Steve Rogers, I thought the way that they made Chris Evans look so ickle was fab.  Technology nowadays is so advanced that this sort of amazing transformation is easily possible.  I actually kind of liked how long they spent focused on ickle Rogers as well, as freaktarded as he looked!  I all meant that when he became Captain America he looks so much bigger...but he wasn't too big.  Like not inordinately big...which was good!

So yes, as a prequel to next years Avengers movie, which I am soooooooooooo excited about, like more than you could possibly imagine...it was an excellent start!  It set more characters in motion, something that is happening at a lovely pace with Iron Man and Thor already standing out!  We got to see more of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury character putting his Avengers in place.  When I was going into the cinema to watch Captain America this Dad was just coming out with his two boys after obviously seeing the film and I overheard him say, "Did you recognise the man with the eye patch at the end who was speaking to him once Captain America was in our time...he's the one getting all the superhero's together for the Avengers film!"  Made me giggle at even the Dad's geekiness! :)

Bring on next summer I say, The Avengers is gonna kick some might ass, and yes, major geekgasm to the fact that my beloved Jeremy Renner is in a comic book flick...it has most certainly got this fangirl a bit giddiful and happy with anticipation.  And even more so when at the end of the credits of the film you got to see the trailer for The Avengers...AWESOME!!!!! <3

Tracy Edwards - The Man Who Led the World to Jeffrey Dahmer's Doorstep - Another Victim Allowed to Slip Through the Cracks of Wisconsin's Broken System!

Okay so y'all probably know about my slight little thing with Jeffrey Dahmer.  Just the other week, on the 20th anniversary of his capture did I write this blog about him and the fact that I thought it was tragic that he had on so many occasions slipped through the system, something which had people actually paid attention to him, he might not have committed the amount of atrocities that he actually did.  It was with great shock then when I read just a week ago, exactly 20 years and one week since Tracy Edwards, the man who was to be Dahmer's 18th victim however had escaped and led the police to Dahmer's apartment leading to his arrest, was himself arrested on a murder charge.  Edwards, living homeless on the streets, had got into a fight with two other homeless men on a bridge and 43 year old Johnny Jordan plunged from the bridge to his death.  Edwards was arrested and is being held.


It has been reported that Edwards has been in trouble with the police a number of times over the years, mostly with relation to drugs.  What shocked me most about this recent tragedy and the fact that Edwards has once again been thrust into the spotlight, is the fact that after the Dahmer trial, he never received counselling or anything to help him deal with his ordeal.  I mean the man had not only come close to death himself at the hands of Dahmer, he was the man who was single handedly responsible for leading the police to one of the most notorious serial killers that not only America, but the world had ever seen.  As I mentioned in my Dahmer blog, it was Edwards accounts of his encounter with Dahmer that inspired Chris Carter to write one of my favourite X Files episodes, Irresistible...an episode that would go on to inspire another of my favourite Chris Carter shows, the Lance Henriksen/Terry O'Quinn led Millenium!

Getting off track though, my point is...after what Tracy Edwards went through from the 22nd July 1991 and onwards with the trial and the mass amount of press and personal invasion, I find it absolutely shocking that there was nobody to actually look out for him!  The state of Wisconsin, and indeed the USA owed him a debt of gratitude and what did he get...left to his own devices!  I don't know what person wouldn't have resorted to at least drinking in Edwards situation.  The thing is, drugs were readily available in the area he lived and easy to get hold of so he ended up with drug problems as well.  When Dr Emily John hired Edwards to feed the homeless at a shelter in 2004 she was shocked to find out that he had never received counselling following the Dahmer trial.  WISN reports. “It did stun me, which is why I hauled him to the Red Cross immediately,” John said.  The nurse who worked with him offered him free sessions and asked him to come back the next week but he never showed.  The thing is, if you ask me, this was already too late for Edwards and it is easier for one to drown out their demons with drink and drugs than to sometimes face up to the problem at hand.  "I don't think a lot of people want to go to therapy to deal with pain. They'd rather self-medicate, and that's what Tracy does, and it leaves him in the street over and over again," John further stated.


At the end of the day, this is a tragedy on top of a whole mound of tragedies, and one that the state of Wisconsin shouldn't look lightly upon.  This is THEIR FAULT!!!  Not giving counselling to a man who had been in Edwards state is fucked up, like beyond fucked up!  Any normal place would have thought that to be the first thing for any victim, let alone the one that led to the capture of one of the most notorious serial killers of all time!  Dahmer slipped through the cracks and looked what happened to him...and all of his victims.  And then Edwards, the one who gets away and leads the police to Dahmer (a man who FYI, the police were completely clueless about his existence in the first place!), ends up leading a miserable life, fueled by drugs and alcohol to help dull out notoriety of being the one that got away...and now he too is facing a murder charge of his own.  It is a sick and twisted world we live in and this is further proof that when victims of crimes are left to slip though the gaping cracks of a fucked up system, they end up on the wrong side of the law themselves...and more people potentially suffer!


I hope that this is not only a wake up call for Tracy Edwards, but more importantly, a wake up call for the state of Wisconsin as to how it fucked up first time round...here's hoping they won't make the same mistake again!