Audrey Rose (1977)

Well, nothing combats the brisk, cool October air when you're feeling sicky like curling up with a nice cup of tea to a good old fashioned tale of possession.

Audrey Rose has been tempting me for quite some time now. I've been hesitant to watch it in fear that it will be something like a pale Rosemary's Baby knock-off or tag-along. I quite frankly don't have the energy to be disappointed like that - not when I could be watching something awesome like Rosemary's Baby. Or sleeping.

But ultimately, I feel it's time to get a move on watching this one as I finally suspect I might be pleasantly surprised, and it seems like a good one to watch for this year's October Challenge. 

So without further ado, let's get started on Audrey Rose. See you after the show!

Update:

What a profoundly sad movie, and not at all related to Rosemary's Baby. I was wrong!

That said, when you think of possession - in a movie or otherwise sense - you often think of a 'bad' possession, something intending to do harm to the host. That is not the case with Audrey Rose. This is a moving, scary film that is hard to watch because people's hearts are profoundly hurting, not because of evil spirits. This is also a movie about healing after the loss of a child. If you choose to watch it, prepare to be a little sad by the end.

I highly recommend adding this film to your 1960s-1970s Movies Based On Books About Possessed Children marathon you've always wanted to do. With Audrey Rose, I suggest the following:

The Other
The Innocents
The Exorcist

...I'm sure I have more, but I can't think of them at the moment. 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

I'll be completely honest with you folks.

This year has been nothing short of an incredible challenge for me. So much so that I've become convinced that many of those near and far to me have had their bodies invaded by aliens hell-bent on ruining everything.

That's the only logical explanation. Obviously.

Which is why I've chosen tonight's film to be Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version). I've heard nothing but great news about this movie, which is good. Because if the world as we know it is going down in a giant Bed Bath and Beyond hand-basket then I'm at least going to enjoy the movie parts.

So, seeing as I have a couch ready to go - let's get this movie started!

Update:

Well, this movie is awesome. But of course you already knew that - everybody knew that but me! I had somehow managed not to get caught by the pod people bug for all this time. [in monotone:] But I agree with everyone. This is an excellent movie. Why had I avoided it for so long? It's excellent. It's so much better than I expected.

I found it peculiar, however, that the very things I've wanted - so many people want all the time (in real life, now) - is peace, love, security, happiness, SLEEP, and a stress-free life. Well, according to this movie, if you really get that type of life then you are just a living shell of a person.

Great.

Awesome.

[slow clap]

Fantastic.

The movie moved like a live Carmina Burana performance. It's intense, emotional, fast, slow, O Fortuna! We're all screwed! Rejoce! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Ride is going too fast!

Oh life. [punches shoulder...hard] You just keep spinning that wheel, don't ya?

Suggested pairings: Vegetable smoothie, salad (extra dressing).

Alone In The Dark (1982)

My brother and I had an impromptu movie night, complete with beer and pizza, at his place. He brought out a gem he had just picked up from Scarecrow Video. Alone In The Dark (1982 film), and man, it was something special.

Want psychopaths? Got it.

Want power outages? Got it.

Want an insane asylum where the patients take over - and then take over The Town!? Got it. 

Want strange editing skills where parts of the film just doesn't make sense? Got it. 

This film has got that and so much more! Although I asked Matt to write up a review for this one, I thought I might get it started just to pique your interests. 

Take it away, Matt!:


[several hours later]


Matt?

Martyrs (2008)

I was pretty sure Jolie had already reviewed this one, I can't seem to find it anywhere so I thought I'd just throw my thoughts out there because truthfully, I just watched Martyrs and I desperately need to cleanse my soul of the horrors that it inflicted on me.  This movie has got to be the most terrifying movies I have ever seen.  I has shaken me to my very core.

Doesn't this look fun?

The movie begins like your average movie, with a young girl escaping a torture dungeon, but after that, things start to get a little disturbing.  I won't go into too much detail as to not spoil it for anyone, but let's just say, the funnest part of this movie is when Lucie, the young girl now grown up, breaks into a house and shotguns an entire family to death.  Lucie believes the family were the ones responsible for her imprisonment, and that by killing them, she can rid herself the the creepy, skinny, razor wielding, person-thing that torments her.  She calls her childhood friend, Anna to help her clean up, and things get really messed up from there.

There was parts towards the end where I just wasn't sure if I could finish it.  The reality of the movie was almost too much to bear, and the prospects a incredibly bleak, but I stuck with it, because I guess that's what martyrs do, go through with terrible pain and suffering for the good of mankind.  Hope everyone is happy!

I read that they are planning an American remake, by the producers of Twilight for christsakes, which is actually the most disturbing thing about this whole thing.

Wendigo (2001)

Today I decorate the home for Halloween! I especially go all out on the front door - complete with a bowl full of candy for everyone everyday until Nov. 1st. I take pride in giving out the good candy too, not the crap candy everyone dreads getting on Halloween. That is my gift to you, fine neighbors, for putting up with all our patio parties year 'round. It's the least I can do.

But before I decorate, I have a movie to watch. A movie that cropped up in conversation during last year's October Challenge: Wendigo. There are simply not enough wendigo creature features out there and this is one scary beast! If you have no idea what a wendigo is then I'll let Wikipedia tell you. And what's this? Animal Planet has a shown some interest in them too?

In any case, werewolves and wendigos, man, they can scare the wits right out of me.

Let's hope this one does too, although I'm a little more fearful that the movie will be a bust. Although the New York Times calls it "...a genuinely bone-chilling tale.", I've not always trusted that paper so I'm just going to have to see for myself. See you after the show!

Update:

You know what folks, I'm going to have to agree with the New York Times. As well as the L.A. Weekly in that this is "A darkly beautiful, genuinely scary movie."

A line from this movie sums up the experience pretty well, "Nothing between the earth and sky is bad, but there are spirits that should be feared."

Wendigo is built on tension, of which builds very nicely. It builds so nicely, even with some of the cheese factor, that one gets the heart-sinking feeling that something bad is just...about...to...happen...

I'd like to talk about the cheese factor for a moment. If one gets fixated on the very awful sweater the father wears at the beginning of the film then the movie will be lost to you. Because that sweater, and several other well played cheesy moments, will easily drag down the horror element of the movie unless you are paying attention. This movie is for serious horror movie fans.

In other news, why are small town pharmacies so scary...?

Okay, enough of that, back to Wendigo. This movie also revolves around the different elements of childhood horror - real and imagined. Although this movie captured (very well, I might add) the madness supposedly associated with the Wendigo creature, it also captured the fear and imagination commonly associated with childhood. Monsters under the bed, in the closet, outside, made of nature, human monsters, etc. This movie did such a good job of that that I remembered a particularly scary moment from my childhood.

I grew up on the prairie, left to my own imagination and devices. One cold day I came across a half-eaten deer carcass, seemed like a pretty fresh kill as well. I poked at it, examined it - because I was 9 years old and it was the first time I saw this element of nature in action, if you will. Suddenly I was struck with the idea that I was disrupting something. That I was interrupting order and disrespecting something far older than I could imagine.

I ran home. Afraid.

Never saw (nor looked for) that deer carcass again, but I feared that if I glanced out the chicken coop window - toward the part of the vast open prairie where I found the deer, that the deer's head - decomposed eyeballs, tongue hanging out and all - would suddenly pop up in the window and scream at me.

Yes, I've always had a wild imagination, but this movie brought that memory back to me. I found this to be a frightening film, a sad film (cried even!), and a genuinely good horror film.

Suggested pairing: Wine if you live in the city, beer if you live in a town. Popcorn and venison jerky.