Hack-O-Lantern (1988)

October Challenge Day 13 

This is an absolutely zany movie where you'd totally expect to hear such lines as: "But he killed my boyfriend, Grandpa!!"

This is a Halloween/spooky season must watch - at least once - a MUST. Let's talk about the feral film that is: 

Hack-O-Lantern

It's a slasher film from 1988 so you already kinda know what to expect, but like every slasher film from 1988, you're never fully prepared. 

Naturally, (again, as a slasher from 1988) we have a lot of breasts, butts, puns, odd characters, creeps, and slap-sticks abound, but it's the family dynamics with this one that really took me out. 

TOOK ME OUT

SLAYED ME

This is the story of a grandfather who leads a satanic cult and kills his grandkids' father (.... if they really were his kids....) on Halloween night. 

Years later, the family tries to keep it together but lispy grandpa won't let them. Everyone is dying and Mom can't catch a break.

Hy Pike is monstrously fun in this film - just an absolute lunatic. Brava!

This is my kind of trash, however, so I was fully invested. Well, mostly invested. I had it on while I was trying to find a way to preserve onions in pantyhose - we'll see how well that worked out in a month or so. In short, together, this film and I were just being delightful menaces. 

This film is messy *MESSY*, hilarious, and an absolute great time. Come for the devil masks, stay for the garden tool swashbuckling. Watch with friends just before heading out for a party or haunted house. 

Speaking of haunted houses and since it's the extra spooky day of October 13th - I recently went to a haunted corn maze and had the best time! Nature could not have been more perfect, with the crisp air and natural fog making the entire experience all that much better. 

It's hard to describe the gleeful, deeply freeing feeling of running through rows of corn, in the dark, and people are jumping out to scare you for delight - best I can do is say: I've been looking forward to this all year.

Shout out to Stalker Farms for putting on a great attraction! If you live in the Pacific Northwest, I highly recommend checking it out (and be sure to get the VIP tickets. Those lines to get in were LONG). 

A visual little treat at the end of the attraction

I couldn't believe this exit!

A quiet moment in the corn

Speechless 

I rented this film from Scarecrow Video or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this hot mess.

The Signalman (1976)

October Challenge Day 12

Oh the BBC series A Ghost Story for Christmas, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

Let's talk about the STELLAR episode:

The Signalman

This film is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' short story, The Signal-Man, which I am itching to read. 

Here we follow a lonely rail worker, charged with monitoring the trains' signal box as these massive modes of transportation come barreling through a long, dark tunnel.

Something is amiss however, as he keeps seeing visions of a spectre just before a tragedy strikes. Then one day, a man roaming the moors, comes across this spooked signalman and listens to his tale of woe and concern - and you're going to join them, sitting next to the fireplace....

Nearly all A Ghost Story for Christmas episodes frighten me but this one gave me physical chills down the spine. With spectacular atmosphere, and a moody, threatening cadence, this one is truly exceptional. 

These short films are a must watch, particularly for the cold and dark season. So get cozy, gather with your friends and family around the fire, and settle yourself in for a chilling and profound spooky experience.

I watched this film on Shudder, or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this Victorian-era ghost story. Note, several are also available on the Internet Archive and YouTube. 

I absolutely loved this one! Cheers to all, as we settle into mid October.

No One Will Save You (2023)

October Challenge Day 11

Well I loved the SHIT out of this!! Let's talk about the petrifying and stellar story of:

No One Will Save You

First and foremost, this should have had some time in the movie theaters. It's a shame for us all that it didn't.

Secondly, with almost no dialog, this film, most impressively, had my rapt attention!

This is the story of a lonely young woman, socially isolated by some wrong she did in the past, who - one night - wakes up to find a comically typical looking alien in her house. 

Now, although this alien is a 1950s style alien, don't mistake its menace. These things are downright Scary! And I mean, scary scary!!

When it first started to get going, I thought to myself that it feels as if someone saw the Season 2, Episode 15 of the Twilight Zone and got inspired... and then I saw Stephen King essentially said the same thing, according to IMDB Triva, and now I have complicated but honored feels about my noticing the same thing he did.

Back to the story:

The woman and alien battle it out with profound tension (there is profound tension throughout the whole film, by the way) and things get so much more worse for her by morning.

This is a fast-paced, non-stop, thrill ride of very scary proportions. I had no idea where it was going, no idea what to expect, and the aliens managed to get more and more frightening. 

I don't think I watch a lot of alien films but when I do, I am thankful to have found gems.

Now, I would have liked to see more practical effects over the CGI, but the monsters were still pretty well done all the same. 

IMPORTANT: Watch with headphones on - or in a room with a great sound system!

This would make for a great movie watching experience at night, in a fully dark room. Pairs with theater snacks and drinks. Watch with friends and family (recommended, so you can talk about the ending, especially) or alone!

I watched this film  on the Roku Channel (in fact, Roku picked it out for me....) or use the Find It! Watch It! Links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this stellar alien invasion!

Braindead aka Dead Alive (1992)

October Challenge Day 10

The other day I went to Scarecrow Video, as it was rent one get one free day, and browsed through their staff's hand-picked Halloween choices. 

I found three I hadn't seen before and then I saw this film:

Braindead aka Dead Alive

I have seen this gruesome film before and thoroughly enjoyed it! Even added it to my 2018 50 Movies You May Have Missed List!

So I decided to re-watch it and took my selection to the front desk for check out. It was discovered then, that they were actually out of this film and it was a mix-up. 

Now, this was not a problem for me, I had seen the film already anyway and saw others I could check out. Except, the staff alerted me there was one more edition available. 

Okay, fine, I'll check that one out then. A DVD was then pulled from the back of the store.

As they were checking me out, the clerk added "Oh, and there is a $200 deposit for this", pointing to Braindead.

Me: Say what now?

I love my local non-profit video store. I love all the work they did to get me a copy. I said, "Okay".

And that was a first for me! Flushing out $200 to *rent a movie*. There is a first for everything! Apparently I rented a 2001 foreign and out of print edition!

*(Update: I later found that I had watched the German Cut or Blood Edition, of this film.)*

My brother looked at me and said "Don't break it". Such a bro thing to say to his big sister...

But this really is such a boy film. I wish I had better words. It's just so gross, over the top, gnarly, reckless, goofy, grotesquely comical, absolutely hilarious, visually over-the-top, inappropriate, vaudevillian, and did I mention GROSS GROSS GROSS?

Don't forget the dialogue which has such gems as: "I kick ass for the lord!" (slays me every time). 

This is the story of a New Zealand young man, living with his overbearing mother - a mother who is bit by a monster monkey at the zoo and turned into the living dead.

Absolute. And I mean, Absolute Mayhem proceeds. 

I watched this film first thing on a Saturday morning. May I suggest, perhaps, an evening watch, long after a meal. 

This film is so fun, the body horror and practical effects are exquisite - TOP TIER - and you can't help but find the entire film wildly entertaining. Hell, there's even a love story! Something for everyone!

I rented this film from Scarecrow, or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this cult classic.

Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985)

October Challenge Day 9

I went down a Susan Dell and Kelly Loeffler rabbit hole. I don't know what's going on there but I'm scared out of my mind about it. Creepy Shit.

To cleanse the pallet, I needed some nostalgia, something classic, something warm and fuzzy, something like:

Garfield’s Halloween Adventure aka Garfield in Disguise

It has probably been since the '80s (mostly likely '90s) since I last saw this childhood classic and let me tell you - the SECOND it started - I was instantly taken back with core memories and childhood delight.

Something in my bones even remembered the hair trapped in the film - which is still on display, all these decades later. 

Naturally, I remember this story being a lot longer but it's only 24 minutes. 24 sweet, sweet minutes. 

I think I will be incorporating more childhood TV classics into my regular viewing. It was nice to go back, for a change. It was also startling to see how much I still remembered - little things, like movements and sounds. In all, it's a wild experience! Highly recommended. 

I watched this on Paramount+ or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this absolute delight.

PS: Be sure to VOTE this November!

PS: If you're looking for more spooky Garfield (and more serious), make this a double feature night with the wildly disturbing: Garfield: His 9 Lives. This TV movie upset me so much, as a kid. I remember being scared, crying, confused - you name it. I think, overall, I was a bit too young to truly understand this abstract concept. So, watch the Halloween Adventure for the kid in you, watch his 9 Lives for the existential crisis in you.