Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Musings on AMC's Fear Fest 2008

Never am I more thankful for the fact that I have a television in my office than the week before Halloween. For the past 2 days I've had it tuned to AMC's Fear Fest (formerly Monsterfest) and while I work I've been treated to a constant stream of scares, screaming and mayhem.

It's through this non-stop horror movie parade that I've had some musings that I feel I must share with you.

1) Rob Zombie could care less about hosting AMC's Fear Fest.
I've been a big fan of Zombie's musical career going all the way back to "White Zombie" and have gone out to theaters to support his directing career. But man, oh man, could he care less about hosting AMC's Fear Fest.
And I get it, Rob. It's an easy paycheck.
You show up. You've got cure cards off screen. You've got to interview directors of horror movies you probably don't approve of.
But come on, man. Put just a second's worth of care into it. I'm not saying I need you to flash a grin and cheese it up. Just look, um... less... "over it."
And cool t-shirts. I'm sure they're from Sheri's TotalSkull.com. Seriously. They're cool.
See? I'm not a hater. I'm plugging for ya.

2) Pet Sematary disturbs me.
Seriously. I watched this movie waaaay back when it first came out on VHS and it unsettled me. So much so, I never returned to it.
I just rewatched it and that movie hits a place in my soul that does not tickle, my friend.
"Sometimes dead is bettah!"
Good stuff.

3) Pet Sematarty 2 is terrible.
Conversely, I watched Pet Sematary 2 for the first time during this fest.
That movie is not good.
It's the exact same movie as the first (same director too!) but it spirals into madness somewhere. And the faces in the bubbles at the end. Wha---???
Crazy stupid.

4) I like MOST of the House on Haunted Hill remake.
It was the first of the Dark Castle films. And it's got a lot going for it. Really fun. Definitely feels like a modern approach to a William Castle film. Which-- it is.
I had first seen it in the theater back in 1999 because it was the Halloween season and me and my friends wanted to see a horror movie.
Hear that studios? Read that previous sentence again.
It creeped me out. Made good use of the creepy backward walking, head shaking creepozoid tricks that are played out today. A fun cast.
I was having a great time UNTIL the black CGI stuff comes out.
Oof.
Have them attacked by ghosts or skeletons or SOMETHING more than a computer generated Rorshach test.
Seeing this movie all these years later, guess what? My opinion hasn't changed. Fun until the black stuff.

5) AMC has a nice little line-up this year.
The variety is great. You've got monsters, critters, slashers, werewolves, classics and actioners. There are movies that I watch every year (American Werewolf in London), movies I like to have on in the background (Jeepers Creepers) and movies that I was always curious about, but would never rent (Return to House on Haunted Hill).
They've even got a good smattering of Halloween films airing ON Halloween.
Good job AMC.

Here's the rest of the week's schedule:
Wednesday October 29th
Thursday October 30th
Friday October 31st
Carved by AllHallowSteve at 10:00 AM
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2 comments:

Azathoth said...

I caught some of the Fear Fest and I have to say Rob Zombie was so incredibly unenthusiastic about the whole thing that it was actually depressing.

November 1, 2008 at 5:50 PM
AllHallowSteve said...

THIS is what I'm saying!!
He DID seem to loosen up more when he had a buddy of his (like Sid Haig) on there. And in his defense, he's only got about 8 seconds to say what's coming up OR do an interview... but... yeah... I'm defending him for no reason. He's bored. He looks bored.

November 1, 2008 at 11:10 PM

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