My rainy day craft box

I'm someone who doesn't get to see a lot of movies, or who only sees them years after whatever fuss there was about them dies down. It seems like we've watched a lot of movies in the days since we've gotten settled in, and it's a mix of new and old.

Paranormal Activity 3 - Saw this one in the theatre yesterday. It's hard to discuss without getting spoilery. I can say that so far my fears have been averted and the sequels show no sign of declining in quality. However this sequel, while scarier throughout than either of its predecessors, is both intriguing and frustrating as it seems to directly contradict information revealed in previous installments. However, this may be explainable since the ending reveals that certain individuals' perception of events in their past may be heavily influenced by outside sources... This series is doing a good job of expanding the mystery of its universe while still delivering satisfying movies. Can't wait to see what they'll do next.

Tin Man - Started watching this on my own one afternoon. Haven't finished it but I intend to. It's a made-for-SyFy Channel remake of the Wizard of Oz that pulls heavily from a variety of fantasy and sci-fi genres. Better than any SyFy original has any right to be. There's some very hammy acting and some special effects that aren't very special. But Zooey Deschanel plays the protagonist and takes her job seriously and is more than strong enough as an actress to hold the whole thing together. I look forward to finishing it.

Trick r' Treat - Basically an anthology of four different horror stories that take place across one Halloween night in a town where the holiday's dark magical origins are said to still hold great power. It's actually a very funny yet very gory horror comedy that's very well-written. It got screwed out of a theatrical run despite being produced by Bryan Singer who brought on two of his heavy-hitting X-Men alums (Anna Paquin, Brian Cox.) And that's a damn shame because it's one of the few truly fun horror movies I've ever seen. It somehow manages to not take itself seriously while taking itself dead seriously at the same time. Give it a try if you don't mind anachronic story telling and buckets of gore. My only gripe is that it needed more Tamoh Penniket.

Daybreakers - I remember when this movie came out the trailers made it look like a cheap Blade ripoff. It's actually pretty good. In the near future a virus has transformed most of the world's human population into vampires who have in turned farmed normal humans to the brink of extinction. Vampires deprived of human blood quickly devolve into an insane, animalistic state and society is collapsing as increasingly violent measures are needed to control the growing feral vampire population. Ethan Hawke plays a scientist conflicted over his vampire nature and the ethos of the blood farming corporation he works for. One night he crosses paths with a group of human fugitives and that's where things get really interesting.
Daybreakers does a very decent amount of world building in two hours. The ending clearly sets up for a sequel and you can tell they're itching to build on what they've created even more but given how poorly the film did that will probably never happen. It's a shame too. The film is actually a maddening blend of action movie cliches and truly interesting plot twists and surprise revelations. It's not great film making, but it's pretty good film making. It's no secret that the vampire genre is pretty overextended right now and somebody made a really sincere effort to keep it exciting with this movie. It's not Twilight but it's not trying to be cooler than Twilight either. It is, however, a good look at a bleak hell on earth scenario with vampires. Richard Matheson would be proud.

Okay, I provided Halloween reading material so I feel I should now provide some Halloween music to keep you dancing while you wait for trick-or-treaters.

I have posted this video before and will keep posting it until someone notices. That's right, we can go the easy way or the hard with this one, it doesn't matter to me. This is Powerwolf from Germany and they don't even try to aim for less than over-the-top. Remember the days when heavy metal was about thick makeup and ominous Latin chanting and the songs were all about vampires and werewolves, and the videos were set in churches that were full of, as Beavis famously described it, "smoke, and snakes, and guys bleeding?" Powerwolf does and it's about damn time.


We've all had that nightmare. You know the one. It's the one where you're at some kind of Mardi Gras party except all the colors are washed out and there are John Woo doves floating through the air. Suddenly the mom from Arrested Development appears! And she's levitating in the air and screaming at you! Before you can make heads or tales of any of it, you are set upon by beautiful women who rise from their bathtubs to splash warm milk and hot blood and pulsing organs all over you. That's right, it was THAT kind of dream. Now you're wide awake in a cold sweat and it's a race against time to hide the sticky sheets before mom finds them. You say you don't quite remember? Well it's your lucky day because what follows is a dramatization of the incident in question featuring European pop idols Dimmu Borgir.


And in case you want something lighter and softer that's not out of keeping with the season, here is "You're Not Here" from Silent Hill 3.

Way back when I was a kid I remember channel surfing one autumn afternoon and landing on a strange low-budget British Halloween special about a boarding school for witches. It was called The Worst Witch and I forgot about it for many years until Harry Potter came out and I was like, "she totally ripped this off!" But The Worst Witch is truly distinctive because the school was not run by some charming old Dumbledore... but by Tim Curry himself.

I promptly forgot about it again until today when cmpriest posted Curry's big musical number from the show; a musical number that makes the worst segment of Rocky Horror sound like the best of Andrew Lloyd Weber.

I now give you the scariest thing you will see this Halloween: Tim Curry dancing with Isis wings...

Taken from forensicgirl

( In which I answer questions about Halloween... )

Halloween turned out to be a nice evening. duendegrrl and kakita_shisumo along with some non-LJ co-workers of Mel's came over and we watched Sci-Fi channel's Ghost Hunters special for a little while until it became overwhelmingly boring. Then we watched The Corpse Bride. Candy was eaten. By us.

While I was stuck at work yesterday my boss went and saw Doug "Pinhead" Bradley perform his one-man show at a local college. Apparently he did readings from Edgar Allen Poe and The Hellbound Heart among other things. He did a Q&A session afterward and my boss asked him about his involvement with Cradle of Filth. Apparently Doug says they're really nice guys and they just called him up out of the blue one day and asked him to do voices on their albums. Prior to that his most recent exposure to anything resembling heavy metal was going to a Deep Purple concert back in the 70's. It was the best time I ever had at something that I didn't actually go to.

Work was insanely busy today in terms of deliveries. I have to check in all the packages that come in and by today I must have checked more packages than an Army doctor giving physicals to new recruits. If it were any other holiday I would chock it up to post-Halloween business rush, but paradoxically it was Halloween so I could not.

This is that month when people are supposed to be writing. I of all people probably have the least excuse not to. More on that if I actually get it done.