Fool's Views (1/27 – 2/16)

Use 'em or lose 'em, Doc.  Your choice.

Howdy, folks,

I gotta say, this has been the weirdest winter ever, both in terms of extreme temperatures and logy viewing parties on my part. I mean, when the polar vortex comes to town, shouldn’t it just be a natural reaction to just chill out, flip on the tube, and let the good times roll? In years past, when the weather wasn’t nearly as harsh, I’ve been known to bang out 50-60 movies in January without batting an eye. Yet, here we are with February in the rearview mirror and I have yet to crack the 45-flicker mark or even make it to the multiplex. Oh, the times, they are a-changin’. Granted, much of this has had to do with the ongoing promotion and celebration of HIDDEN HORROR (see Exhibit A), but even the Oscar race hasn't been able to spur the enthusiasm of days gone by.

That said, I’ve enjoyed the fine cinematic diet prompted by the good folks at Shout! Factory and Kitley’s Krypt, not to mention a little dose of nostalgia that sent Burnt Offerings (ergh) and Alone in the Dark (yes!) into the player in between bouts of filming a couple of horror shorts myself. Note: do not sign on for any future projects that involve lying dead in a snowbank in one’s undergarments. It just ain’t worth it.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

WITCHBOARD (1986) Blu-ray Review

Witchboard (1986) d. Kevin S. Tenney (USA)

Growing up in the 80s as I did, I have many formative memories of early MTV-era, where big hair and bodacious babes ruled the airwaves. And, like many a red-blooded heterosexual teen, I was gobsmacked in late 1987 by the sight of a certain fiery-maned, negligee-clad lass frolicking in, on, over, and around David Coverdale’s two Jaguar XJs in the video for Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again.” Even before the days of the interwebs, word quickly spread: the unattainable beauty in question was one Tawny Kitaen, and I missed many a class while waiting to catch a glimpse of her in a pre-YouTube era. (She’d already made a splash in the 1984 Tom Hanks movie, Bachelor Party, but I hadn’t seen it yet.) So, when I learned that there was a haunted Ouija board movie out there on the video shelves starring “that girl,” I made a point of tracking it down.