31 Days Of Horror

I finally made it - a horror movie every day for the month of October.  Thank you for following along.  For those of you that just joined me, here is a recap with links to my daily blogs for each film.  I hope you had a great Halloween.  Looking forward to doing this again next year.  - Bret

31 Days of Horror
October 01 - Let Me In
October 02 - Legion
October 03 - Children Of The Corn (2009)
October 04 - Haunting Of Winchester House
October 05 - Hellraiser
October 06 - The Six Degrees Of Helter Skelter
October 07 - The Reeds
October 08 - Cujo
October 09 - Don't Look Up
October 10 - Puppet Master: The Legacy
October 11 - Saw
October 12 - Shadow Of The Vampire
October 13 - The Call of Cthulhu
October 14 - White Zombie
October 15 - Suck
October 16 - The Omen (1976)
October 17 - Damien: Omen II
October 18 - Saw II
October 19 - The Shining (1980)
October 20 - Kraken: Tentacles Of The Deep
October 21 - Omen III: The Final Conflict
October 22 - Amusement
October 23 - Demonic Toys
October 24 - Killer Pad
October 25 - Pet Sematary
October 26 - The Strangers
October 27 - Carnosaur
October 28 - Blackenstein
October 29 - Amityville II: The Possession
October 30 - 30 Days Of Night
October 31 - The Bag Of Death

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 31

Day 31 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 31, 2010 HALLOWEEN!
The Bag Of Death (2003)

The Bag Of Death.  A classic.  A man in black leaves a mysterious bag for unsuspecting people to discover, open and face the horrifying consequences.  This evil man in black is portrayed by none other than yours truly, Bret Helm.  :)  Filmed in Tempe, Arizona in 2003, The Bag Of Death is not commercially available yet, so you will just have to take my word that it is so rad.  Have a Happy Halloween!

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 29-30

Day 29-30 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 29, 2010
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

Surprisingly, I have never seen any of the Amityville sequels.  So today, I streamed this one on Netflix.  The story in Amityville II actually pre-dates the first film.  The Montelli family move into the Amityville house and for a few hours, everyone is happy.  Then the weird stuff starts to happen...  mirrors fall off the wall, crucifixes get covered up, the older brother becomes possessed and seduces his sister, etc.  It wasn't too bad.  It got a little bit carried away at the end, but oh well.  It is what it is... and it was a fun movie to watch.

Interesting trivia:
1.  On the wall in Sonny's room hangs a Rocky poster.  Sonny's dad is portrayed by Burt Young, who was in the Rocky movies as Paulie
2.  The movie was filmed almost entirely in a studio in Mexico
3.  James Olson, who plays a priest in Amityville II, also was a priest on the TV show Little House On The Prairie



October 30, 2010
30 Days Of Night (2007)

I love this movie.  I've seen it probably 10 times and I never get tired of it.  A small Alaskan town goes dark for 30 days each year... so what better place for thirsty vampires to hunt their prey!  Buy this movie, you'll love it!

Interesting trivia:
1.  The film was shot entirely in New Zealand in 70 days
2.  The language that the vampires speak was created for the film with the help of a professor of linguistics in New Zealand

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 24-28

Day 24-28 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 24, 2010
Killer Pad (2008)

Three guys move into a cool house in the Hollywood Hills.  They are soon visited by three evil hotties and some strange things start to happen.  Directed by Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger!!!), Killer Pad is a pretty silly movie.  Entertaining, but pretty ridiculous and funny.


October 25, 2010
Pet Sematary (1989)

I've seen this movie many times.  It's actually the first Stephen King book that I read years ago.  I'm sure you've seen it too, but just in case.... there is a cemetery where you can bury dead things and the next day they aren't dead anymore.  Cool movie with Fred Gwynne from The Munsters.

Cool trivia:
1.  Stephen King makes his cameo as the minister at the funeral.
2.  George A. Romero (Night Of The Living Dead) was originally set to be the director, but dropped out when the filming was delayed.
3.  Seven cats were used for the role of Church.  They were each trained to do a different task.


October 26, 2010
The Strangers (2008)

This is one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time.  I saw it at the theatre when it came out and it is a genuinely freaky movie.  A young couple are staying at a house in an isolated location and three masked people terrorize them.  The Strangers will keep you on the edge of your seat, as they say.  Be sure to watch it at night with all of the lights off!  Highly recommended.



October 27, 2010
Carnosaur (1993)

A geneticist, played by Diane Ladd, wants to take revenge on the human race by breeding dinosaurs to kill off the people of the world.  A totally rad movie.  Just take a look at the cover.


Interesting trivia:
1.  A miniature, remote-controlled puppet was used for filming the T. Rex in his acting debut
2.  The same year that Diane Ladd was in Carnosaur, her daughter - Laura Dern - was in Jurassic Park
3.  Ned Bellamy, who plays the role of Fallon, was in one of my favorite films, Ed Wood.  He played the chiropractor-turned-actor, Tom Mason


October 28, 2010
Blackenstein (1973)

A few weeks ago, I opened my mailbox and this movie was staring me in the face - sent by my friend Ron in Florida (builder of the Rozznet and Audra websites).  Check out the tagline of this gem:  To Stop This Mutha Takes One Bad Brutha.

Here's the story:  Eddie loses all of his limbs in Vietnam.  His girlfriend (Winifred) enlists the help of a Nobel Prize-winning doctor (Dr. Stein - get it?) to inject him with some special DNA and gives him his limbs back.  The doctor's assistant (Malcolm) falls in love with the girlfriend and is mad when she denies him.  Malcolm substitutes the good DNA with the bad DNA and Eddie turns into a killing machine.

This movie cracked me up.  Eddie/Blackenstein always manages to catch his victim, even when he's moving at the speed of 28.8 dial up internet.  Although it was kind of bad at times, I actually enjoyed Blackenstein.

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 22-23

Day 22-23 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 22, 2010
Amusement (2009)

I kept running across this in the DVD racks, so tonight I decided to finally watch it.  Three women are stalked and captured by a psychotic classmate from back in elementary school.  For a direct-to-video release, this was really quite good.  I recommend Amusement.  I hope you like clowns.  :)

October 23, 2010

Demonic Toys (1992)

A 66-year old demon's spirit is re-animated, and to assist in his demented plot to be physically reborn, he brings to life a fleet of demonic toys.  A potty-mouthed baby doll, a laser-shooting robot, a hungry teddy bear and a whole mess of hilariously-evil toys chase a chicken-loving security guard, a pregnant police officer, a delivery guy and a teen runaway around a toy factory.  It's insane, ridiculous and totally entertaining.  Brought to you by Full Moon Entertainment (Puppet Master, Ghoulies, etc.) - if you've seen any of those then you know what to expect.

Interesting details:

1.  Bentley Mitchum, who plays the delivery boy, is the nephew of Robert Mitchum's son

2.  Peter Schrum, who plays the security guard, was Uncle Ed Kanisky on TV's Gimme A Break

3.  If you're really into it, check out Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys!

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 21

Day 21 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 21, 2010
Omen III: The Final Conflict

Damien Thorn is now 32 years old and the Ambassador to England.  A group of monks are trying to exterminate him, while he tries to locate and kill the reborn Christ child. Sam Neill plays Damien, in his first Hollywood lead role.  Definitely not as good as the first film, though it was a good wrap up to the Omen Trilogy.  A fourth, made-for-TV movie came out 10 years later.

Interesting artifacts:

1.  The footage of the White House was actually taken from the movie Superman II.

2.  Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando were all considered for the role of Damien Thorn.

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Day 19-20

Day 19-20 of my Horror Film Marathon

October 19, 2010
The Shining (1980)

Probably my favorite movie of all time.  Of course I own it on DVD, but I always end up watching it on AMC when I'm flipping through channels.  I spoke to at least four people today that have never seen The Shining, so if you haven't... do it now!

Interesting trivia:

1.  The front exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel were filmed at The Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon.  All of the interior shots and back exterior of the hotel were built in a studio in London.  Director Stanley Kubrick had each of the rooms modeled after various hotels across the country.  For example, the men's bathroom where Jack Torrance speaks to Grady was modeled after the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, which was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

2.  Grady, the former caretaker, never blinks once during the movie.

3.  The Shining was filmed on the same set as The Empire Strikes Back.  Much of the fake snow used in The Shining was used for the Hoth scenes in Empire.

October 20, 2010

Kraken: Tentacles Of The Deep (2006)

LOL.  My friends Mike and Tara from a band called Lycia gave me this for my birthday.  It's a made-for-TV movie about a giant squid that kills people when they try to recover a lost treasure that it protects.  Kraken was better than I expected, but flawed on many levels.  The worst part, besides some of the acting, is the Kraken itself.  Looking like a giant hand, it does nothing to envoke any type of fear in the viewer.  Think of it as a Lifetime movie with a giant swimming hand that kills people.  :)