Thursday, August 12, 2010

Fool's Views Haikus (6/14 – 6/27)



Hey guys. The Fool is back again.

This glorious two week period included a multi-day Share the Scare session up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin alongside good friends, alt country bands and a certain 12-pound pizza. John Pata served as the host with the most, opening his abode to our motley crew of Windy City vagabonds while we hosted and toasted the day of his birth. Gobbling down flicks, ice cream , late night gyros and the aforementioned ’za, it was a truly memorable and rewarding way to ring in the Doc’s 42nd year on the globe (John and my birthday are mere days apart), topped by a big screen viewing of William Castle’s classic House on Haunted Hill with Emergo the floating skeleton making a rare “live” appearance. These are the geeky moments we live for.



Again, we have introduced the new all-haiku format, so hope you enjoy the syl-la-ble-count-ing. And as always, feel free to offer your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!



HORROR:
Big Bad Wolf (2006)
(1st viewing) d. Dreesen, Lance W.
A talking werewolf?
A talking, raping werewolf?
Yet it kinda works.

Bloody Ape, The (1997) (1st viewing) d. Crocker, Keith J.
Amidst the crap script
Racist “humor, ” shite acting…
Yeah, it’s pretty bad

Eye of Cruelty (2004) (1st viewing) d. Hyatt, Christopher
David Lynchian
Eraserhead-style madness
Hyatt shows promise

House on Haunted Hill (1959) (4th viewing) d. Castle, William
Saw this in Oshkosh
Packed in with like-minded folks
And Emergo - BLISS

Murder Party (2007) (1st viewing) d. Saulnier, Jeremy
Armed with clever script
Humor and judicious gore
I’d call it a win

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A (1987) (5th viewing) d. Russell, Chuck
Fred not played for laughs
Best of the Nightmare series
Dokken rocks it hard

Psychos in Love (1987) (1st viewing) d. Bechard, Gorman
Charmingly offbeat
Intentionally funny
Loses steam at end

Slaughter High (1986) (1st viewing) d. Dugdale, George/Ezra, Mark/Litten, Peter
Tier-2 slasher fare
Class reunion bad idea
Oh sweet Caroline

Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) (1st viewing) d. Brock, Deborah
Barely a sequel
Big rockin’ driller killer
One big zit ka-blam

Timecrimes (2007) (3rd viewing) d. Vigalondo, Nacho
A time travel flick
So suspenseful and well-made
One of last year’s best

To Let (2006) (1st viewing) d. Balagueró, Jaume
Landlady from Hell
And the hot chick from Dagon
Creepy far-fetched tale

CIVILIAN:
Candy Snatchers, The (1973)
(2nd viewing) d. Trueblood, Guerdon
Gotta love a flick
That completely overlooks
Having a good guy

Incredible Mr. Limpet, The (1964) (1st viewing) d. Lubin, Arthur
Don Knotts as a fish
Frothy post-war fantasy
Decent waste of time

One on Top of the Other (aka Perversion Story) (1969) (1st viewing) d. Fulci, Lucio
Not quite giallo
Filled with head spinning plot twists
Fulci could direct

Scum of the Earth (1963) (1st viewing) d. Lewis, Herschell Gordon
Poor misguided youth
Taking naughty cheesecake snaps
HGL “roughie”

2010 Totals to date: 172 films, 125 1st time views, 107 horrors, 14 cinema


TV:
Twilight Zone: 1 episode (75 total for 2010)

5 comments:

  1. And here's my tally from this time period:

    Kika* (Pedro Almodóvar, 1993)
    Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)
    Walking and Talking* (Nicole Holofcener, 1996)
    Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich & Ash Brannon, 1999)
    Please Give* (Nicole Holofcener, 2010)
    Toy Story 3* (Lee Unkrich, 2010)
    Watermelon Man* (Melvin Van Peebles, 1970)
    Darktown Strutters* (William Witney, 1975)
    The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980)
    Lookin' to Get Out* (Hal Ashby, 1982)
    The Story of Adele H.* (Francois Truffaut, 1975)
    Sinful Davey* (John Huston, 1969)
    The Steel Helmet (Samuel Fuller, 1951)
    Frankenstein's Bloody Terror* (Enrique López Eguiluz, 1968)
    A Bell from Hell* (Claudio Guerín Hill, 1973)
    Don't Look in the Basement* (S.F. Brownrigg, 1973)

    No horror to speak of at the start, but I make up for it in the home stretch. Of course, the film on your list that intrigues me the most is Big Bad Wolf because I know it's available through Netflix. As with most recent werewolf flicks, though, I didn't know whether it was worth adding to my queue.

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  2. Freddy 3 is definitely my second fave, after the first one obviously! I love me some Freddy!!

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  3. You saw some good stuff there, Craig. BELL FROM HELL, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT and FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR are underrated and well liked by yours truly. What'd you think?

    Oh, and i see you did the TOY STORY trilogy. By gum, wasn't the third one just magical? I was so happy to have seen that in the theater.

    WATERMELON MAN is a wild one - haven't seen it since I was in high school, and I'm sure I wasn't properly equipped to see it then. Been meaning to check it out again as an adult.

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  4. Jenna - believe it or not, I actually prefer the 3rd NIGHTMARE to the first. Feels like they finally figured out the rules and the rhythmns of Freddy's world. Too bad they lost their grip on the rudder almost immediately afterwards. (Doesn't ANOES 4 start with a dog peeing fire?)

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  5. A Bell from Hell was from a terrible public domain print and Don't Look in the Basement seemed pretty haphazardly put together. Frankenstein's Bloody Terror was great, though. I've been enjoying my Summer with El Hombre Lobo.

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