Those who are regular readers of Halloween Addict may know that I grew up on the East Coast and more importantly: on Dunkin Donuts coffee. Sure nowadays you can buy the DD magic beans in any major grocery store, but nothing beats getting a hot cup (or iced if in the summer) right from the source.
All that said: the doughnuts at Dunkin Donuts... have always been an afterthought to me.
Sure I'd probably buy one to go with my coffee, but I was really there for the coffee. I think part of the reason is that there isn't a signature DD doughnut (donut? doughnut?) that I crave or NEED to seek out.
'Til now.
In the vein of a Mountain Dew "Dewmocracy" social-media-marketing experiment (of which I am willingly participating) and to celebrate 60 years of doughnut-making they asked the masses to design doughnuts, culled those down from 90,000 entries to a scant 12 finalists and now allow the rest of us to vote on what the next donut will be.
Why would I mention such a thing on HalloweenAddict.com?
Well it seems the good people of Hardwick, Massachusetts and Orlando, Florida LOVE their Halloween because they have submitted two well-named, deliciously-designed entries: the "Pumpkin to Pie-n For" and the "Snack-o-Lantern."
As a fan of Massachusetts, Halloween and clever names my choice is a no-brainer: The Snack-o-Lantern.
(Side note: the only thing that would make the Snack-o-Lantern better were if the icing were orange.)
If Snack-o-Lantern won, I would make specific travel plans to fly in, buy my cup of coffee and proclaim loudly and proudly that I would also like a Snack-o-Lantern with that.
So c'mon fellow Halloween Addicts... let's get a Halloween-themed doughnut mass produced!
"11:55, almost midnight. Enough time for one more story. One more story before 12:00, just to keep us warm. In five minutes, it will be the 21st of April. One hundred years ago on the 21st of April, out in the waters around Spivey Point, a small clipper ship drew toward land. Suddenly, out of the night, the fog rolled in. For a moment, they could see nothing, not a foot in front of them. Then, they saw a light. By God, it was a fire burning on the shore, strong enough to penetrate the swirling mist. They steered a course toward the light. But it was a campfire, like this one. The ship crashed against the rocks, the hull sheared in two, mars snapped like a twig. The wreckage sank, with all the men aboard. At the bottom of the sea, lay the Elizabeth Dane, with her crew, their lungs filled with salt water, their eyes open, staring to the darkness. And above, as suddenly as it come, the fog lifted, receded back across the ocean and never came again. But it is told by the fishermen, and their fathers and grandfathers, that when the fog returns to Antonio Bay, the men at the bottom of the sea, out in the water by Spivey Point will rise up and search for the campfire that led them to their dark, icy death.
[bells ring distantly] 12:00, the 21st of April."
So begins John Carpenter's classic ghost (or is it "underwater zombie"?) story: The Fog as told by John Houseman aka Mr. Machen.
I always like to mark this day when I can remember it.
If the events of the Elizabeth Dane and Antonio Bay were real, it would have happened 30 years ago. And in actuality The Fog turns 30 this year. THIRTY! Crazy.
So how to celebrate today?
Here's a few ideas:
1) Well like I've said in the past, I always like to pop in Carpenter's classic for a view. I'm always looking for new ways to enjoy films I've seen a number of times. Tying it to a date of the week, even if it's fictitious, sometimes gives it an extra spin that makes it fun. (It's only on DVD right now, Blu-Ray doesn't drop 'til May 12th...)
2) Order (or wear if you already own one) one of these great The Fog-inspired t-shirts.
From LastExitToNowhere.com is this KAB Radio Antonio Bay t-shirt. Exploit your inner horror geek while being camouflaged from the rest of the world. It's subtle and wonderful.
3) If you live in Northern California (or can fly like Superman) you can make a quick day trip to the REAL Antonio Bay which is actually Bodega Bay (amongst other places).
Sean Clark has a great article HERE on BloodyDisgusting.com chronicling the whereabouts of the actual shooting locations for The Fog.
4) Watch another The Fog-like film. No I'm not talking about that lousy remake. Something else like The Mist, or Silent Hill. Something moody. Something... well, FOGGY.
So get out there! The day's half-over! Unless you're waiting for the night.
Enough time for one more story.
One more story before 12:00.
Just to keep us warm...
No matter how you feel about your beloved horror classics being remade you can look forward to them for one reason alone: NEW HOME VIDEO RELEASES OF THOSE HORROR CLASSICS TO TIE IN TO THE THEATRICAL RELEASE!
Woo hoo!
Out on Tuesday came the first hi-def release of Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street on Blu-Ray and thanks to the good folks at Warner Bros., they sent me copy.
What do you get on the disc?
Is it worth picking up?
Who invented liquid soap and why?
Settle down, I'll talk you through this.
I'm not going to bother going over the plot of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I'm guessing that you've seen it so why retread what you know. If you HAVEN'T seen it the below contains SPOILERS so go rent or buy the original right now and introduce yourself to one the greatest slasher villains in horror history: Freddy Krueger.
How's it look?
This being my first Blu-Ray I gotta say--- it's pristine. I'm not a techie who's going to talk about black levels, grain appearance and how many channels the audio pipes through. If you want that breakdown head over to IGN.com, I'm sure they can help you out. I judge it by doing this simple thing: I pop in the disc and watch it on my flat screen.
Anyway, the movie looks great. Thanks to hi-def I can clearly read the Los Angeles street signs in the background, see the flower sticker on Nancy's mirror and spot the jack o' lantern decoration hidden in the basement at the climactic end. Fun!
Interesting things I had forgotten about A Nightmare on Elm Street or hadn't noticed before:
Lin Shaye, who will forever be burned into my brain as the super skanky Landlady in Kingpin, plays Nancy's Teacher in the Halloween-like classroom scene.
A factoid I always forget 'til I re-watch (and apparently Brian at HMAD didn't know at all) is that Charles Fleischer (the voice of Roger Rabbit) plays the doctor who's trying to figure out Nancy's nightmare problem.
When Nancy has the TV on trying to stay awake she's watching Sam Raimi's Evil Dead featuring a shot of Mr. Bruce Campbell himself.
Johnny Depp is really really really young in this movie.
The front door to the Elm Street house is blue in this movie. BLUE! I always thought it was red. Crazy.
The guy who plays Saxon's deputy also played the Sheriff in Craven's Scream. Neat!
I also tried to watch the film with an unbiased eye, thinking to myself, "If I were a teen today what would I go with and what would I think is bunk."
What Still Works:
The Freddy head coming out of the wall above Nancy's bed looks fantastic. Amazing what a well placed light and some latex can do. No CG needed. So simple and yet really unsettling.
Any dream stuff, for the most part. We've all had nightmares where things are odd: people talk in whispers for no reason.... leaves blow in the hallways... trying to run away is like running in quicksand. It works. The gags keep the audience off balance as to whether they're in reality or the dream world.
Freddy (or actually "Fred" in this film) is actually creepy. When Krueger chases Nancy in the boiler room in a sequence earlier in the film, the combination of his porkpie hat, baggy sweater and pants and burn make-up give the impression that the then 30-something Robert Englund was a creepy old gaunt villain with a penchant for toying with the minds of the young before dispatching them. Of the few lines spoken by Krueger, "This [while raising a clawed hand]... is God." certainly unsettles the viewer more than the puns that followed later in the franchise like "How's this for a wet dream?" (Don't get me wrong, I loved Nightmare 3 where the puns really took off. I'm just sayin'...) Freddy's also not front and center like the character he becomes in the later films. In fact his face is often concealed by shadows... by darkness... by jail cell bars and steam pipes. You never get a good look at the killer so your mind makes up anything scarier than what you could see.
The jump scares. There's a lot of them. Sure they're cheap. But that music sting got me a few times and made me giggle. Yes that's right. I giggled.
The rotating room gag. When Tina gets killed, with all the screaming she does... it's definitely unsettling. And the way the stunt was done was really brilliant. No CG. Pure mechanics and trickery.
What Doesn't Work:
Freddy clawing through the small window of the front door mimicking the mother's voice and then pulling off her face to reveal himself. Doesn't work at all. It looks like a crappy mask and the lips don't move. I'm sure they could do this better with CG.
Freddy chopping his fingers off then the piddly squirting that happens afterward. Not scary... annnnd a little silly looking.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
If you're a film buff like me Special Features on a DVD make or break your purchase. Well this has got plenty of them. Now, in full honesty, from what I can see these are the same special features that are on the Infinifilm edition. The only difference is that you get a great hi-def transfer of the film. But that's ok because the extras are great and the transfer is great. Win/win.
You've got two commentaries. Commentary one is ported over from the Nightmare boxed set from 1999 (and apparently THAT is ported from the Laserdisc). It features Director Wes Craven, Actress Heather Langenkamp, Cinematographer Jacques Haitkin and Actor John Saxon. It's a good commentary. I'm a commentary snob and can attest to this being a good one. They all take turns talking, not overlapping much. There's a nice mix of stories from the set, technical specs, and reminiscing.
The second commentary is touted as "new" but is a port from the Infinifilm double disc DVD release. It's made up of on-camera interviews that have been stitched together and laid in to relate to the picture. It sounds odd but it works and a benefit because you get to hear from various members of the cast and crew who may not all have fit into a recording booth for a live commentary.
You also get:
A mini doc called "The House that Freddy Built" that goes into how Elm Street MADE New Line. It's an informative, interesting watch for cinephiles.
"Night Terrors" is a mini doc on sleep disorders and nightmares. Stuff like this is an interesting watch given the subject matter but I find they don't pay off as much as a full delve into the subject would.
"Never Sleep Again" is the crown jewel and really goes deep into the film and the legacy the series left. If you're already a fan and have read a lot of trivia and watched a lot of making-ofs there might not be too much new for you here. But it's good to have it all in one documentary.
"Alternate Endings" & "Trivia Challenge" are exactly what you'd think.
Should you get it?
In a word: Yes.
It's a great deal. For $16.99 (on Amazon) you get a hi-def version of a classic horror film along with all the great special features from the best release of this classic thus far.
Happy April Fool's Day!
No prank posts here at Halloween Addict today, I'm just looking for a reason to post on a weird "holiday" like today.
Originally I was just going to suggest a viewing of the classic horror slasher April Fool's Day. You've got choices of course: the original from 1986, which puts it smack-dab in the middle of the slasher genre's golden years... or the remake from 2008.
If you made your decision from poster artwork alone, I think the original would be your choice. The remake artwork seems to be using cleavage to distract you from the fact that it's an inferior 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Regardless of your choice, the Amazon links are below so you can pick up whichever strikes your fancy.
I started this post with "Originally I was just going to suggest a viewing..." I say "Originally" because I found a great post by Casey over on BloodyDisgusting.com of "10 Horror Movie Pranks Gone Wrong." It's a good post and gives a few other options for April Fool's Day-related horror films to check out. Careful on your read-thru if you haven't seen some of the films. There be SPOILERS.
