When Bad DVD Covers Happen To Good Movies (Sort of) #3

Although I mentioned it in another context in the postscript of my Maniac review, I failed to evoke Black Christmas when discussing other horror films that open with a shot of the killer’s subjective point of view. An especially glaring omission since not only does it predate the other films mentioned (yes, even Halloween) but because since the age of 16 when I randomly discovered it in the horror section at the Wherehouse (Where? The Wherehouse!) , I’ve become slightly obsessed with the film and count it amongst my favorite films of all time, regardless of genre.

With the holiday season in full bloom, this month will mark my annual viewing of Bob Clark’s 1973 masterpiece, and hopefully unlike a few years ago when I arrived to a sold out sign, I will be able to see it theatrically for the first time at the New Beverly on December 18th when it plays with 1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night in a Christmas slasher double bill. Perhaps after that screening I will discuss in further detail my appreciation for the film itself, but now to the subject at hand: the overall sucky-assness of Critical Mass’s Collector’s Edition DVD cover, circa 2003. There are several different DVD releases of Black Christmas with several different covers, but I am focusing on this one because it’s the DVD most leaden with extras, and it happens to be the version I own.

Apparently employing the same graphic designers assigned to create the many radio talk show host billboards in Los Angeles, the Black Christmas DVD cover is a mess of composition, fonts gone crazy and a lame tagline. Let’s start with the composition, I have no issues with the background shot of the sorority house that serves as the setting for the majority of the film, but egads, that foreground picture is horrendous, having seen the movie numerous times it took me a close inspection before I realized that the person in close-up is not in fact a victim of the invasion of the body snatchers or a burn ward patient, but rather the film’s first victim, suffocated by a plastic bag. What would someone who hadn’t seen the movie think? As for the mixed fonts, was that the result of a late night compromise between someone who wanted to go with an X-Files inspired glowing uncapitalized typewriter feel with someone who is a big fan of the shattered glass effect? In the future, someone has to just give up their pride and say, you know what bro, I’ll get the next cover. Lastly the tagline “’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, a creature was stirring…”, while not as lame in comparison to the other atrocities, it pales next to the original tagline which is still one of the all time greats: “If this movie doesn’t make your skin crawl…IT’S ON TOO TIGHT!”

BUT…and here’s where Critical Mass redeems itself, when you tear through the shrink-wrap, you have the option of reversing the cover where you can display the classic hand drawn poster containing a clear view of the suffocated victim in a Christmas wreath, with the original awesome tagline and the title in one continuous font throughout both words. Black Christmas was released under several different titles including Silent Night, Evil Night and the less festive Stranger in the House, but each release featured this classic design. While I have to slag Critical Mass for not making this the cover buyers will see displayed at their local DVD retailer, I do give them huzzahs for including it at all! This is the cover that prompted my initial rental and began my 15 plus year love affair with the film. If this was the cover when I was 16, I probably would’ve walked out with the latest Children of the Corn sequel instead.


Special Note: This is the third or fourth time I’ve mentioned Black Christmas on this blog, and the first time I didn’t reference last year’s crappy remake. Yay for me! Oh, whoops…

Maniac (1980, William Lustig)

Part of the 80's Project

Much like it’s main character Maniac is a schizophrenic film. Equal parts exploitative 1980’s slasher film, show-offy gorefest for the talents of its make-up artist extraordinaire Tom Savini, intimate character study courtesy of its star and co-writer, the great character actor Joe Spinell (probably best known for his roles as Will Cicci in the first two Godfathers and Tony Gazzo in the first two Rockys) and grimy cheap late 70s/early 80s New York independent art vibe (I’m thinking Abel Ferrara territory).

The first shot immediately reveals its intention to put the audience in an intimate relation with Spinell’s character, Frank Zito. The very first image is a shot of one of those beach pier telescopes you put a quarter into, the next shot is a subjective POV through the telescope’s lens at a couple frolicking about who will be the film’s first victims. A slasher film opening with the subjective POV of its killer is nothing unique, even as early as 1980, having been done beforehand most famously in Halloween (lil’ Michael Myers attack on his sister) as well as another 1980 film featuring the work of Tom Savini, Friday the 13th. However, we never get to follow Myers or Mrs. Voorhees having a post-murder schizophrenic conversation with their dead mother as we do in Maniac. In these scenes Spinell gives a fearless, personal and an intimate, some, hell most, would say uncomfortably intimate, performance. We always call actors like Charlize Theron “brave” for gaining weight, wearing bad make-up and not washing their hair for a couple of weeks in Monster, but Spinell’s turn as Zito earns that distinction because this is his actual body and he allows Lustig to film it in unflattering close-ups, in all his flabby stomach, sweaty balding head and acne scarred faced glory.

The first half hour or so of Maniac is structured thusly: Zito picks a target, follows that target around until they are in an isolated location and then kills them in a graphic manner (thanks to Savini). What’s interesting is Zito’s improvisational process of killing people. In the Friday the 13th sequels, Jason mixes things up from time to time, but he’s a machete man at heart, Myers usually sticks to the tried and true kitchen knife, but Zito is the type of guy who sees what he has around the house and says to himself “hey, that’ll do”, as a result we get strangulations, shotguns to the face, even a sword as murder methods.

An interesting aspect of this structure is that while he's stalking his victims we stay with Zito’s perspective, but once we get to the chase our perspective shifts, and we find ourselves in the victim’s shoes, not knowing when or how Zito will strike. I’m not sure exactly whom we are to sympathize with. We have spent more time with the killer and know him more intimately, but then again, he is a maniacal killer, I mean it’s in the title! But due to the nature of his random victim selection there’s less character definition with them than we’d have if we were introduced to them earlier, like the typical camp counselor in a Friday film, and yes, that is the first and only time a Friday the 13th movie will get credited with any form of character development.

After awhile it must have occurred to Lustig, Spinell and co-writer C.A. Rosenberg (who has no other film credit, is it a pseudonym for Lustig or Savini?) that 90 minutes of Zito going around killing someone and going home and having conversations with his dead abusive mother would seem repetitive and go nowhere. So we are then introduced to a fashion photographer who will become Zito’s “love interest”. This part drags the film down, not because there’s no murder, but due to the fact that a.) it’s more than a little unbelievable that this trendy, beautiful, popular woman would have any romantic interest in Spinell, even when he’s playing “normal” he still looks like Spinell and has more ticks than Norman Bates, and b.) the filmmakers seems indifferent to these scenes. Spinell saves most of his acting energy for the schizo scenes, Lustig shoots them boringly, saving his savvier cinematic tricks for the suspense and kill scenes, and Savini is not around. Eventually Zito decides that he’d rather be a serial killer than an arty New York hipster and while it’s a commendable choice, his attachment to her and the fact that he attempted any sort of an emotional relationship with a woman who is not his dead mother ultimately costs him.

Despite borrowing liberally from not only Halloween, but also aspects of other horror classics such as Psycho (killer channeling and conversing with his dead mother), Carrie (let’s just say hands pop out a grave at one point) and Dawn of the Dead (in a dream sequence, Zito gets torn to pieces by his zombified victims, where Savini pays tribute to one of the great horror make-up artist, one Tom Savini), the sum is greater than its parts. If you’re a fan of the genre, and have a strong stomach, Maniac is definitely worthy.


Extra Spoiler Type Comments Below:

Maniac receives runner-up honor on my list of idiotic work by police officers in a horror movie climax. The winner is of course Black Christmas (don’t make me have to specify the original) where after Olivia Hussey survives the traumatic experience of being stalked and nearly killed by her boyfriend (or was it?) everybody leaves her asleep alone in her sorority house bed. With, it turns out…the real killer…duh duh dun! Well in Maniac, after Frank unsuccessfully tries to kill his fashion photographer girlfriend he returns to his apartment, has the aforementioned dream that he’s torn apart and apparently dies from self inflicted stabbing wounds. It turns out his lady friend didn’t cotton to being nearly murdered and ratted him out, so two Serpico wannabes bust into Zito’s apartment only to find him dead (or is he?). So what do they do? Shrug and leave. Of course after they leave, it’s revealed that duh duh dun…he’s still alive! Seriously guys, I know its pre-cell phone, but you have a CB radio in your car, right? The correct procedure, I am guessing, is not going “well, shit happens”, but rather having one of the cops stay in the apartment as the other goes to contact a coroner or one of them CSI guys. Hell, if you don’t have a CB radio, find a goddamn payphone, man. Its 1980, they still exist, plus you just found the killer that has been plaguing New York for a few months, I’m sure your boss would accept a collect call.

I guess what the Strokes said about New York City cops in that one song was pretty spot on.

Extra Special Random Fun Fact

While this was definitely Joe Spinell’s biggest role of 1980, probably biggest role ever, it was one of 8 films and 1 TV movies featuring a Spinell performance in the year.

Trailer of the Week: Colonel Mortimer’s Policy Trailer

If you attended a movie at a Syufy theatre (better known as the Century Theatres) sometime in the 1980’s or 90’s you no doubt remember the floodlight policy trailer that preceded every film. Movie-theatre-going-wise, I was lucky enough to grow up in San Jose, CA and pretty much the entire film going of my formative years were at their landmark “dome” cinemas, Century 22, 23, 24 and the crown jewel of them all, Century 21, the great single screen theatre that was also the first of the Syufy chain to carry the name “Century”, christened as such because its futuristic design (circa 1964) was heralded as be the type of theatres that one would presumably expect to be the norm in the 21st century (unfortunately that was not to be the case).

Sometime in the early 90’s the Syufy corporation officially changed it’s name to “Century Theatres” since pretty much every post-Century 21 was subsequently labeled as a “Century”. With the name change, the popular floodlight policy trailer was scraped and replaced with something more non-descript.

What makes the floodlight trailer stand out is the interaction it inspired amongst loyal crowds. On YouTube it is labeled: The Syufy Clapping Trailer. And yes, clapping is what I associate most of all with it. Psyched film fans witnessing the further adventures of Luke Skywalker, James Bond and Indiana Jones would form a cacophony of claps to its syncopated beat. There even floated around rumors and stories of people who would stand up to simulate the floodlight movements with their arms (though I never personally witnessed or participated in that particular activity). I remember attending a matinee of A League of Their Own with my mother and even a crowd of middle-aged soccer moms clapped along (to be completely honest, at the time I thought it was kind of lame that adults had so blatantly co-opted “the clap” that their children, if not invented, perfected, if the phrase “jump the shark” existed at the time, I’m sure I would have applied it to the events of that summer afternoon in 1992).

I realize that this posting originates from a place of nostalgia, but it’s not necessarily just for the carefree days of my youth or the kitschy retroness of the trailer’s design, but rather a time when film going represented something a little more special: a sense of community, something that has been lost a lot what with the ever-decreasing quality of Hollywood filmmaking, crowds who seem more interested in their Blackberrys than the film they paid to see, and the fact that movies open so wide that on any given day a film can play on as many as 10-15 screens per town. Sadly, the Syufy/Century theatre is partially responsible for this, opening multiplex after multiplex and cutting some of it’s domes in half to increase screening capabilities (the 23, 24 and 25 included) instead of focusing on larger one or two screen theatres, resulting in the abandonment of the quality of the theatres and their designs in the process.

Last year, Cinemark bought out the Century Theatre corporation with one sole exception, the three original domes and their drive-in screens which will revert back to operating under the Syufy name. And for discerning San Jose movie fans, there still is no better place to see the latest hit films. Now let’s hope they bring back the floodlight policy trailer!

Thanks for reading the long preamble, it’s now time for today’s featured entertainment. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

The Changeling (1980, Peter Medak)

Part of the 80's Project

Since it's been about a month and a half since I actually watched The Changeling, I am going to do something a little different here, instead of forming some kind of cohesive review (not to imply I've ever written a cohesive review) I am just going to go through notes I took during and after the film and just bulletin point my thoughts. Act like it's one of those progress reports your boss makes you waste time drafting, just try to refrain from coming into my blog and shooting the place up like you've been strategically planning the last fifteen years.

SPOILERS AHOY! (*especially the ending!*)

* General plot synopsis portion: George C. Scott plays a classical pianist whose wife and daughter die in a car accident. He moves from New York to a quiet Washington (Pacific Northwest, not District of Columbia) town where he teaches music at a university (and is wildly popular for some reason, like 500 kids crash his first class, I guess Washington is wild for their mourning classical pianists) and moves into an old house with a mysterious history. Creepy stuff starts happening, stuff like for an example an antiquated wheelchair appears out of nowhere and moves by itself and a rubber ball very dramatically falls down the stairs. Ends up this house is haunted by the spirit of a dead boy. Through copious amounts of research and mediation with a spiritual we discover that the boy’s father stood to inherit a significant sum under the one guideline that it would actually go to the boy, but since this kid suffered a fatal disease one night the father drowned his son, secretly buried him and hightailed it to Europe with no one ever the wiser, in Europe he adopts a similar looking kid who he brings back to America a few years later and cha-ching gets the inheritance. In the present day, the adopted son has become a Washington state senator and one cannot help but speculate his first initiative in office was some kind of inheritance reform. George C. Scott decides to stay at the house and help the kid gets some form of vengeance (we'll discuss this a little later), but it kind of comes back to bite him in the ass since after the boy's vengeance is satiated, the house burns down. Hope Scott had insurance! (I did say there would be Spoilers, right?)

* The film begins with a great opening sequence and title card. George C. Scott's wife and daughter are killed in an auto accident in the snow while Scott watches helplessly in a phone booth. Close-up on Scott's grieving face...and...FREEZE FRAME...The Changeling. What I especially like about the film is it‘s non-explotative nature concerning the death of Scott‘s family, evidenced by the fact that his assisting the child offers him no emotional resolution or cathartic reconciliation with the spirit of his deceased loved ones (a la this year's 1408), obviously their death inspires him to help the boy but that’s more a character trait than a plot contrivance.

* The fact that this film continually pops up on various "Scariest Movies of All Time" list is due to the deft direction, sound design and quiet atmosphere director Medak--a journeyman director who resume includes on anarchistic British satire (The Ruling Class), many television credits (ranging from Tales From the Crypt to Seventh Heaven to Magnum P.I.), neo-noir (Romeo is Bleeding) and one of the crappiest films in the history of films (Species 2)--employs. The house is quiet and so is the film, until you know, shit goes down, Medak effectively mines suspense by contrasting the silence and Scott's character classic piano playing with loud disruptive sounds. Today it's a cliche, I know, but it’s always effective when done right. Too often filmmakers hijack their own suspense by wallowing in poor sound design filling what should be quiet moments with lame rock songs that serve only to attempt to sell the soundtrack (this is a Miramax specialty) and avid farts editing style (copyright Vern), Saw and those horrible Michael Bay produced remakes being primary offender.

* The best scene of the film occurs when a psychic comes to the house to communicate with the spirit. The acting and direction remains contained. Nowadays, the woman would be portrayed like a Zelda Rubenstein type kook and the scenes where she communicates with the spirit would be over-edited with flashes of some ghostly images too you know, freak you out. Instead we get a nice drawn out scene which is treated not like a crazy event, but rather a woman nonchalantly just doing her job, sure her job involves being in a trance like state and communicating with the dead, but hey to her, it's just another fucking Tuesday.

* But what I find most interesting about The Changeling is that the ghost of the kid is actually a bit of a jerk. I’ve already mentioned how after George C. Scott helps the kid out by finding his skeleton and confronting the senator/impostor he repays him by burning down the house. “Thanks, bud, that'll be the last time I ever try to assist spirits of murdered children.” But the whole act of vengeance on the senator/impostor is kind of petty. Yeah, it sucks that this guy got your fortune and is now a senator, but hey, money alone didn't ascend him to his position, it's mentioned that he's served several terms, so hey, people liked him enough to re-elect him. Hell, the senator doesn't even know the truth about his past until the film's climactic scenes. So he ends up dying for the sins of his father, only it wasn't really his own father, but his adoptive father. On the flip side he had a fairly long and prosperous life and was able to avoid any Dickensian-like orphange abuse and calling everybody "guv'ner" all the time. All in all, the measure of payback perfectly gels with what the five year old mindset would consider fair.

This wasn't really much shorter than most of my reviews was it? At least I still have the lack of cohesion thing going on.

Let's Hear It For the Best Month of the Year!

October or as its sometimes referred: Rocktober (by your local hard rock, less talk radio station), Shocktober (by cable channels with horror movie-thons) or Frocktober (amongst the Monk community)is by far my favorite month of any given year for one simple reason, two of my favorite hobbies, watching horror movies and drinking beer are not only considered socially acceptable but are actually encouraged. This October particularly holds a special place for me as I am getting married on October the 13th (no, not a Friday)! The only down side is I will miss some cool blogging and horror movie related events (as well as Oktoberfest!). I have one more 80's Project entry I hope to get done before I leave town (and it's a horror movie) and I am hoping that when I return to town (on the 29th) I can revisit Halloween III finally.

In the meantime, let me make some suggestions on things to do while you are going through Colonel Mortimer withdrawls:

New Movies:

Sadly, October is no longer a fertile time for new horror movie releases, unless you count the new Tyler Perry joint. Why is that? Wouldn't Rob Zombie's Halloween remake be greeted with a bit more enthusiasm had it been released this month instead of August, sure it would have still sucked or to use the nomenclature of Mr. Zombie "skullfucked", but at least people would have been in a horror movie state of mind. This year's horror slate is limited to all of three releases, and one is a 14 year old children's movie. Seriously film studios and independents, get your shit together, I want a minimum of eight horror films released October 2008. Let's look at the slate:

30 Days of Night (October 19th)
Vampires attack a small Alaskan town where it's dark all month long in this horror thriller based on a graphic novel (as is everything these days), any film with Josh Hartnett as its main star is already missing something in the charismatic lead role department, but the premise is interesting enough. David Slade directs, his last film was Hard Candy where he had some nice tension created until the film unraveled in the final act. Hope this script is decent. According to IMDB, Slade has also directed some Aphex Twin videos, and that dude's video are creepier than 90% of modern horror.

The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D (October 19th)
What's this, what's this, Disney is remarketing an old film? Simply shocking! Disney's (by way of Henry Selick, Danny Elfman and Tim Burton) first spooky animated film since the Adventures of Ichabod Crane short has become quite the merchandising bonanza since it's initial release in 1993 thanks to Hot Topic and it's dual Halloween and Christmas setting.

Saw IV (October 26th)
While I cannot endorse this horror series, I checked out after the lame first film, after watching Zombie's idiotic retelling of Michael Meyers origin, I do have to concede some props for creating a new horror character and series instead of remaking a classic.

Repertory Theatres (Los Angeles):

The NuArt, October 19th at Midnight: Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

A brand new 35mm print of Sam Raimi's gory and hilarious sequel that I would gladly give up a hand to catch (as long as I can replace it with a chainsaw!)

The Egyptian, October 30th at 7:30pm: Seed of Chucky

While I am of the opinion that the Child's Play series results from morphing into comedy terrain is not quite as clever as the makers think it is, I grant them that Seed has some choice meta moments, and this screening should be fun with both writer-series creator-director Don Mancini and Jennifer Tilly in attendance, but where art thou, Brad Dourif?

The Aero:

This Santa Monica theatre is the only rep theatre in Los Angeles going full on horror as it dedicates the last few days of October to horror movie programming:

October 25th at 7:30pm
The Haunting & The Uninvited
Robert Wise's (who passed away earlier this year) classic The Haunting is still the movie that all haunted house films are judged by, just ask Jan de Bont. It plays with another haunted house story, the lesser known and unavailable on DVD, The Uninvited, directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland.

October 26th at 7:30pm
Demon Seed & The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78)
A supercomputer wants to impregnate Julie Christie (can you blame it!) in this thriller from Performance co-director Donald Cammell, it plays with Phillip Kaufman's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers which is not only miles better than this year's The Invasion, but stands with John Carpenter's The Thing as exhibit A in the remakes don't have to suck debate.

October 31st at 7:30pm
The Omen
The original, Richard Donner directed non September 11th and Hurricane Katrina referencing version. "It's all for you, Damien!"

October 27th at 7:30pm
By far the most interesting option for your Halloween needs, the Aero is hosting an all night horror movie-thon, for a mere $20 you can watch 7 films all night with snacks and foods included, that is if you can survive, muwahahah!

The line-up:
Return of the Living Dead
Acid rain and punk rock zombies!

Freaks
Tod Browning's classic follow-up to Dracula. One of us! Gabba Gabba! One of us!

From Beyond
Stuart Gordon's follow-up to Re-Animator adapts a HP Lovecraft story that according to the Aero's calendar (sorry haven't seen it yet, need to queue this up) involves "sixth sense, mutating humans and monster unleashed from the netherworld."

The Beyond
Directed by Lucio Fulci, about a Louisiana hotel that contains a gateway to hell...aka The Superdome! (rim shot)

Last House on the Left
Wes Craven's debut is one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen, it's a revenge story inspired by Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring. Just keep telling yourself...it's only a movie...only a movie.

The Children
Basically City of God, only instead of gang members, this time the children are zombies!

The Gates of Hell
The night ends with another from Italian gore maestro, Lucio Fulci, and again its about a gateway to hell. Hey, Wes Anderson has his recurring themes, Fulci has his gates to hell ruminations.

Non Horror Related Repertory Screenings of Interest

Since I won't be in Los Angeles for much of the month, I am not going to do the New Beverly calendar like I did for September. But here are a handful of double bills worthy of your attention.

October 7,8,9

Rushmore 7:30pm (plus 3:50 Sunday)
Bottle Rocket 9:20pm (plus 5:40 Sunday)
Speaking of Wes Anderson, his fifth film, The Darjeeling Limited opens this weekend, what better time then now to catch up with his first two and arguably best films.

October 10,11

Il Grido 7:30pm
Zabriskie Point 9:45pm

This is a double bill I am really sad to miss, two of Michelangelo Antonioni's lesser seen efforts play together, Il Grido was the film he made before his first international success, L'Avventura. And Zabriskie, his only American financed film, has been out of print for decades. Its considered a disaster by some and masterpiece by others, I would like to see it for myself and decide, but alas, maybe another time.

October 23rd
God Told Me To 7:30pm
Bone 9:30pm

This month's grindhouse double bill is two from cult writer-director Larry Cohen. In God various New Yorkers go on a murdering rampage because, well god told them to. Kind of like how he "told" Bush to invade Iraq. Bone stars Yaphet Kotto as a thief who breaks into a wealthy Beverly Hills mansion and discovers the dark secret of the couple who resides there, I actually prefer it's other title: Beverly Hills Nightmare!

Television

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown--Friday, October 27th at 8:00pm, ABC
This year marks the 41st airing of this classic Peanuts Halloween special, maybe this time Linus will finally stay up and see the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown will get candy instead of rocks!

Halloween Marathon--Wednesday, October 31st at 10:00am, AMC
If you like your horror movies edited for television, tune into the channel formerly known as American Movie Classic for an all day festival of the first six films of the Halloween franchise, beginning with John Carpenter's classic and all the way to Donald Pleasance's last appearance, in the Curse of Michael Meyers.

Classic Horror Movie Directors Series, Fridays at 8:00pm, Turner Classic Movies
The cable station that still actually plays classic movies has the most interesting programming, dedicating all Friday nights in October to a series of film by a classic horror director:

Friday, October 5th--Jacques Tourneur Night: Curse of the Demon, Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man

The French director who made several artistically solid films for producer Val Lewton also directed the Robert Mitchium noir classic, Out of the Past.

Friday, October 12th--William Castle Night: Homicidal, Straight-Jacket, 13 Ghosts, The Tingler

Castle was a showman above all, Joe Dante's Matinee starring John Goodman was loosely based on his life and the gimmicks he used to sell his films. Make sure to electrically shock whomever you watch these films with at the appropriate time.

Friday, October 19th--Tod Browning Night: Mark of the Vampire, Freaks, The Devil Doll, London After Midnight, The Unknown

TMC proves the director of Bela Lugosi's version of Dracula was no one trick pony with these four films that display his range, directorial fortitude and experimental techniques.

Friday, October 26th--Roger Corman Night: A Bucket of Blood, Creature From the Haunted Sea, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Terror

Before introducing the world to such diverse talents as Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme, Corman directed many of his own low budget horror films. My only complaint, no X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes!

Blogosphere

Sadly, I will not be able to participate in any of the interesting blog-a-thons that will pop up this month, but that doesn't mean I won't be reading them. And so should you:

31 Days of Zombie at The Projection Booth

Who doesn't love zombies? No one, that's who, and what better way to prepare for the inevitable uprising of the undead by checking out the Projection Booth's month long discussion of a different zombie movie a day? From the new to the classic to the obscure this blog is sure to rattle your "brainnnnsssss". So far essays include reviews of Zach Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later.

31 Movies That Give You Willies at Shoot the Projectionist

Shoot the Projectionist is also devoting the month of October to a discussion of horror movies, the most intriguing is his survey of several bloggers to create a list of 31 Horror Movies That Give You the Willies.

Various Fun at Final Girl

Much like the Ministry song, for Stacie Ponder, everyday is Halloween. She is a devout lover of all facets of horror, especially the cheesy. She participated in the Shoot the Projectionist survey and all month long she is writing extensively on some of her picks and runner-ups.

2 Horror Movie Reviews a Day at Horror Movie a Day Blog

Likewise, at the Horror Movie A Day Blog, it's always time for horror movie discussions. This October though, instead of just reviewing one horror movie a day, he will be discussing two horror movies a day, one he's never seen and one that is a classic.

Well I think I leave you with many an option for the month ahead. Hope you have fun with your "tricks or treats" and remember folks, caro syrup and red dye = best fake blood.

Loulou (1980, Maurice Pialat)

Part of the 80's Project (returning after a three month hiatus)

A lazy critical fallback is praising a movie by referring to it as being "realistic", but isn't "reality" the very antithesis of what films accomplish best? Don't misinterpret me as the type of viewer that seeks solely from films only escapist fare (another lazy fallback, this by average filmgoers). But if you think of your favorite scenes in film history, be it Psycho's shower scene, Citizen Kane's montage of a disintegrating marriage or Chief Brody on a crowded beach getting closer and closer as each beachcomber passes by in Jaws, the directors employed editing, music, framing and among other various methods to create a cinematic language that as art far transcends realism. In William Goldman's book Which Lie Did I Tell he addressed one of film's most tried and true cliches, the protagonist (in his book he used Lethal Weapon as his example) always finding a parking space in front of whatever place they stop at by writing a scene where the cops spend a good five minutes driving around looking for an open space. In a Film Theory class back in college, our professor showed us two scenes from two films that depicted a minute of time and asked us which related most to our sense of the passing of time. The first scene was from Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf, where Max Von Syndow looks at his watch for exactly one minute, the scene is one static shot, taking place in real time. The next was from Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage. In the scene, a woman unknowingly has stowed a bomb on a bus, set to go off in one minute. In the scene Hitchcock cuts between the unsuspected passengers, the bomb ticking, the bus wheels, the city outside, etc. This montage takes about thirty seconds. The overwhelming response was that Hitchcock's depiction of a minute represented people's relationship with the passage of time that everybody agreed that people tend to lose track of time and never register an exact minute in time.

Maurie Pialat's Loulou is a film that attempts to represent "reality" in direction, stylistic choices, acting and screenplay. The first thing that stands out is its complete lack of a score, in fact the only time we ever hear any music is when a character is listening to a radio either in a car or at home, and once we exit car the sound ebbs out like it would in real life. Pialat also stages most of his actions in the most objective angle possible, framed mid-screen.

The screenplay is sans any major plot points, it revolves around a woman, Nelly (Isabelle Huppert) who leaves her husband and bourgeois lifestyle for an affair with poor ex convict Loulou (Gerard Depardieu). Plot-wise, that's pretty much it. There is never any specific reason given, its implied she herself isn't entirely aware, other than Loulou represents a dramatic shift from her stale and demanding husband Andre (Guy Marchand), perhaps it's his magnetism, his sexuality or just his je nais Deparideuness. That's not to say its a boring film or nothing happens, just the drama is all derived from the characters actions or inaction. The best scene occurs when Andre starts a scuffle with Loulou, he weakly pushes him and they end up in an alley swinging and badly missing one another and getting exhausted before incurring any physical damage. They keel over and just sort of stare at each other no longer interested in fighting, Nelly consoles both of them before they settle on a truce and go to a bar to share a drink. Pialat is able to pull this off so that it combines awkwardness, humor and honesty. It's a tone that the film straddles throughout, like in another scene where Loulou's ex girlfriend visits him while he's in bed with Nelly, Loulou invites her to join them, and as she starts to undress, Nelly gets up and leaves, the ex follows her out, leaving Loulou who had been having visions of threesomes dancing in his head, alone.

In addition to this "realness", Pialat minds some interesting thematic ideas about class distinctions. Nelly seems to be at war with her instincts and desires, she rejects her bourgeoisie lifestyle, but not the tendencies that come with it. She still is an avid reader, but when her husband asks if she discusses literature with her new amour, she blithely retorts, "I read books, what do I need to talk about them for", as a rejection to one of the sole benefits of their relationship one assume. Still, in the brief period when she returns to her husband mid-affair she does seem more at home in the comfy bed in Andre's nice loft then she ever appears in Loulou's cheap flat, lying on a mattress in the middle of the floor. Since no explicit reason is ever given for her affair, one senses she has reconsidered her impulses at comfort in place of passion.

No one will ever mistake Loulou with being representative of any sort of "reality", no matter what cinematic pretension Pialat may present us with, still like life it features internal struggles, questionable decision and most importantly, messiness. Due to the stylistic choices it's a film that's not entirely engaging upon watching, but improves substantially upon reflection.

LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (Fourth Quarter)

The offense looks tepid, but on the bright spot, teams the 49ers have outscored through three quarters this week: Cleveland, Atlanta, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and the NFC Championship representatives New Orleans and Chicago.

So I hesitate to type this, because I don't want Wisenhunt to realize it, but two quarterbacks that the 49ers could never beat, no matter how bad or good their teams are: Brett Favre and Cardinals backup Kurt Warner (shh).

A third down Blitz, I saw it coming, how couldn't the Niners' coaching staff?

After this game, I doubt will be seeing many 49ers or Cardinals games scheduled in primetime, in fact, I think I heard all the major stations are trying to work out a deal to see if the Cowboys could just play every televised night game for the next three years.

Again the referees help out the Cardinals with a crappy personal foul call on an incidental face mask.

Thanks to the referee and a stupid penalty on Mark Roman for taunting (after a 20 yard run by Leinart) the Cardinals take the lead 17-13. Can't really blame the defense, they've been playing great but have been on the field way too much. Now its up to our offense. Crap.

Mr. Woodcock trailer, wow two penis jokes in the title. That's got to be worth something, huh? No. It actually reminds me of a slapstick version of that episode of Freaks and Geeks where Haverchuck's mom dates his P.E. coach.

I know they didn't have Gore for the pre-season but the offense looks awful...no holes for Gore, no time for Smith to throw, when he does he's missing open receivers, this does not bode well for the season if they can't fix this. Sorry I know its getting repetitive, but after seeing the vast improvement of the defense, it becomes that much more apparent.

Is Joe Montana around somewhere? Let's get him dressed for a last minute comback.

Stop saying "San Fran", Gollic, what does not saying "cisco" truly save you, .04 of a second?

Darrell Jackson misses a possible game winning reception.

Nice 4th and 1 pickup by Smith, I would like to see him run a little more, especially if the coverage is good, may cause the safety to play up and open up the receivers.

A questionable false start penalty against the Niners (appears the Cardinals jumped off) makes it the fifth questionable penalty to go against them, home field advantage ain't what it used to be.

Wow, how did this all of the sudden become an exciting game?

Jackson redeems himself with that fumble pick-up.

The Niners take the lead, Walsh lives! Walsh lives!

And the second interception, game over, man. Somehow the Niners win.

LiveBlogging: 49ers v. Cardinals Monday Night Football (Third Quarter)

Thoughts thus far:

The 49ers defense is looking much better than last year. The one touchdown drive was only for thirty yards due to the Alex Smith fumble, the field goal was after a 4th down penalty. Fitzsgerald and Boldin have been quiet and that opening interception. However, they need to do a better job stopping the run.

With the exception of a few Gore runs, the offense has looked bad. Play calling too conservative and the line is not giving Smith any time.

Nice way to start the second half for the 49ers, two false starts to start on the Cardinals. Nice stop by Walt Harris. First round draft pick Patrick Willis in the backfield before Leinart gets a hold of the ball.

Where's the intentional grounding? Leinart tosses it away to no one to avoid a sack. Third crappy call or lack thereof against the Niners thus far.

6 Plays, 5 Penalties for the Cardinals in the third quarter so far, way to go taskmaster Ken Wisenhunt.

This offensive play calling is atrocious, spread it out man. Couldn't Norv Turner work two jobs?

Lame third down call, even if Gore caught it he wouldn't have scored or got the first down.

13-10. 49ers regain the lead, but this is no way to pay tribute to Walsh.

Another nice defensive stop. Eventually we need to actually sack Leinart. This game is more Ditka than Walsh.

Cialis commercial. "E.D." now impotent men have a hip slang word for their homosexuality, er, inability to make love to their wives.

Um, offensive lineman, little advice, it helps to block the defensive guy running towards your quarterback a little bit.

Look at that, give the guy some time, and a third and eight completion! Wow, let's try that a little more.

Alex Smith's soul patch is not helping him hit wide open receivers. Or block for himself.

Wow Ditka says these offenses are too conservative.

Patrick Willis is looking like a great pick so far.

Any crackheads still awake in the East Coast just drifted to sleep at 12:41 AM Eastern Standard time, after that, the 98th punt of the game.

And another quarter ends..hopefully I can stay awake to compose some thoughts for the fourth qu......ZZZZZZ (when I fall asleep I type Z's)