[A to Z] D = The Devils Rejects

The horror films of Rob Zombie seem to be a collection of polarizing efforts.  I believe I have seen all of them.  I only own 4 of his films - the firefly family trilogy and Lords of Salem - and I intend to buy his two Halloween films.  I am a fan of his films in general.  I get why there are unfavorable opinions of his work but I am willing to give any of his films a chance.

I was pretty excited when I first heard Rob Zombie was going to get into horror films.  I waited for House of 1,000 Corpses but then it got delayed.  I do not remember how many times or how long it was delayed but I do recall that it made me wonder whether it was getting released at all.  I finally saw it and - I was not blown away or anything like that - I did not feel let down and was interested in seeing more of his films.

I was not one of the first people in my circle to see THE DEVIL'S REJECTS but I do remember hearing a lot of buzz about the film.  It was suggested almost every time we were looking for something to watch while enjoying a small gathering drinking adult beverages or just hanging out.  No one seemed to ever have a copy available but I eventually watched it.

THE DEVIL'S REJECTS became an instant member of my personal top 10 horror films list; I have watched it countless times after the initial viewing.   It has several memorable moments with some definite quotable lines such as "I am the Devil and I'm here to do the Devil's work", "Official clown business", and "Tutti F--n Fruitti" to name a few.  I find many of the characters in the movie to be interesting and would enjoy a separate feature with The Unholy Two played by Danny Trejo and Dallas Page.  Yes, the film and characters are sleazy but that is appropriate. I would have liked to see his take on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

I consider THE DEVIL'S REJECTS to be the best work of Rob Zombie.  He has other films I enjoy but this is the one I always recommend.  House of 1,000 Corpses and 3 From Hell are both good but I feel they are inferior bookends to THE DEVIL'S REJECTS. House is a little uneven and 3 From Hell suffers from the (mostly) absent Sid Haig.  I enjoyed Zombie's take on the Halloween franchise.  I know there are detractors but you can not claim any high standards from previous entries when Michael Myers is crying in one movie and the rapper Busta Rhymes beats him down with Kung Fu in another one.  Lords of Salem is a slow burn and I understand why people have issues with the film. It took me two or three viewings to really get into it.

There are my thoughts on THE DEVIL"S REJECTS.  Give it a shot.  You just might like it... 

Score!

My son and I went to the Easter sale at Vintage Stock yesterday.  While he was browsing through the selection of video games I decided to check out the book section to see if there were any role-playing items I might be interested in purchasing.  The usual D&D items were there but on the bottom shelf was the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar core rules and the Stormcast Eternals battletome and they were only $14.99 each!  I had always intended on buying the full rules for Age of Sigmar after getting the Storm Strike starter set last year. Yesterday was my lucky day.

[A to Z] C = Creep

I had never heard of CREEP before I watched in on one of the streaming services.  It showed up under the "You May Also Like" listing on another movie.  I watched the trailer and thought it looked like a decent film.  I went in with very minimal expectations.  

CREEP begins with a simple premise.  Aaron answers an ad placed by Josef to create a video diary.  Josef has discovered he has an inoperable brain tumor.  He wants to create this gift for his unborn son since he is expected to die before his wife gives birth.  Aaron accepts and the job and the rest of the story begins.

I do not want to give too much away.  I just want to say that CREEP caught me off guard and had me enthralled the entire time.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.  

[A to Z] B = The Blair Witch Project

I know The Blair Witch Project seems to leave viewers with a pretty strong love or hate reaction after watching the film.  I will state up front that it is one of my all time horror favorites.  It was the first found footage movie I ever watched and was like nothing else I had ever seen.  

I was stationed at Fort Hood, TX when the media blitz for The Blair Witch Project started.  The ads running on television had us mesmerized.  The footage looked so authentic and real at the time.  The missing persons posters and the website added to the hype.  As members of the unit would go watch the movie the anticipation built for those of us that had not seen it. 

I finally saw it with my future ex-wife and some friends that had come for a visit.  I thoroughly enjoyed the movie from start to finish.  It was a slow burn and I really dig those types of films.  The other three people had different reactions ranging from "it was ok" to "that was stupid".  I noticed that similar conversations were taking place among the small groups leaving the theater.  

The film was an overwhelming success and really brought the found footage genre into popularity.  There have been other films such as Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, and a whole slew of others that have used the technique.  I even read that a found footage Friday the 13th film has been considered.  I would watch the hell out of that!

The sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, was done in a more conventional manner.  It did not create the same type of buzz as the original Blair Witch.  The third film, Blair Witch, was more in line with the story of the original film.

[A to Z Bonus Post] A = Army of Darkness

I am Charlie and I am NOT a fan of Army of Darkness.  I admit it.

I am sure some other horror fans will think this is a bad take on my part but it is my honest take on the film.  I enjoyed the original EVIL DEAD for the straight up horror and EVIL DEAD 2 had the perfect mix of horror and comedy elements.  I have been a big fan of B films and these two were numerous rentals from the video stores back in my youth.  I was really looking forward to a third EVIL DEAD film after the ending of the second film.

I rented ARMY OF DARKNESS upon release at the video store and I watched it.  Something has always felt "off" about this film ever since my first viewing.  It might be the more polished look of the film compared to the previous two entries.  It might be that the comedy in this film feels different to me.  I can not really quite put my finger on it except to say that ARMY OF DARKNESS feels like a "safe" entry in this series when I expected a little more risks in the film-making.  Maybe that is an unfair expectation on my part but the film just does not do it for me.  I would buy it as part of a boxed set but I would never buy this film by itself.

On a related note, what about the stuff that came next?  I think the EVIL DEAD remake is a great film.  It is probably my favorite remake and I would definitely give a sequel a fair shake.  ASH vs. EVIL DEAD is a brilliant series.  I own all three seasons on DVD and I have watched the series several times.  The mix of comedy and horror elements works much better in this series than in ARMY OF DARKNESS.   

[A to Z] A = Alien

I bet some of you are thinking "Alien isn't even a horror movie.  It's science fiction.".  Yes, it is a science fiction movie but it has strong horror elements.  I have always considered Alien a sci-fi horror film.  The film has the characters facing the unknown, moments of isolation from the group, jump scares, darkness, body invasion, etc.  It feels like a horror movie set in space to me.  

I think ALIEN and ALIENS are great films.  I have watched them both numerous times.  ALIEN³ is flawed but I still do watch it occasionally; I have heard the original concept for the third film was to have an all out battle on Earth with the xenomorphs.  That could have been great! ALIEN: Resurrection has some decent ideas but I enjoy that film the least out of the four.  PROMETHEUS did a lot of things right but I can not help but feel it is also flawed. Finally, ALIEN: Covenant just felt like a wasted opportunity to me.  For my ALIEN fix I turn to the numerous novels, video games, and the ALIEN Role-Playing Game.     

Zack Snyder's Justice League

I took my son to watch Justice League back in 2017.  Neither of us hated it but thought it could have been handled better; in some (most?) cases, MUCH better. I own the DVD of Justice League - the price was right at the time - and I even watch it from time to time.

I am a fan of Snyder's films in general.  I was always curious about what might have been if he had completed the film.  I heard rumblings over the years and then it was finally confirmed that Snyder was getting the chance to restore his vision of the film.  I waited for the release.

I watched Zack Snyder's Justice League last night.  I am going to keep this spoiler free but it was pretty awesome! I felt that Whedon really did not understand these characters like he did The Avengers and did exactly what he was paid to do; complete the film.  I always felt Whedon attempted to "Marvelize" the Justice League and it did not work.  Snyder's vision was true to the characters and the story was much more epic in scope.

The Search is Over...

The house hunt is coming to a close much sooner than I expected.  I was about to give up for the time being.  Every time I found something I liked the property would become "pending" between the time I contacted my agent and before she could schedule a tour.  A new property became available and it appeared to be the perfect match for the two of us. I viewed the property and made an offer.  The owner accepted my offer and the contract has been signed by all parties.  I am just waiting on inspections and other final minutia at this point.  Woohoo!

I feel like I have made a pretty big accomplishment but I am also quite a bit shocked.  I never expected to be a home owner.  I grew up in a household that had material things but the living conditions were not always the best.  My mother - NO, she was not a single mom doing the best she could - was absolutely horrible at finances.  She was a hoarder, lived by the "I have checks so I have money" philosophy, and was just completely fiscally irresponsible.  My step-dad made pretty good money and we should have lived in better housing.  Make no mistake.  I am not saying we should have lived in the Taj Mahal.  I am just saying that things would have been much better if she would have been a good steward on the finances.  The few times we did move into a house we would up moving back out later because of her actions.  Like most things, the lessons begin at home.  If you are not teaching financial responsibility to your children it will be harder to learn it later in life.  It will turn into a cycle that gets harder and harder to break the longer it continues  

This is NOT a rant against single parents or two parent households that ARE doing the best they can. That is all any of us can do. Circumstances do matter.  Maybe somebody got laid off?  Maybe there was a health crisis? Maybe there was one of any assorted issues. This is about my mother and her self-inflicted issues. 

A to Z Challenge - Theme Reveal

 

It is that time again in April and I will be participating in the A to Z Challenge of 2021.  I am keeping the them simple this year and going with horror movies.  Each post will be about a specific horror movie.  It could be why I hate the movie, why I love the movie, how my thoughts have changed over repeated viewings, or whatever else comes to mind...

Small Update

It has been rough at work lately.  If you are waiting on the continuation of my DragonRaid observations post it will be coming soon.  We have increased our rate of production at work and brought in new temps.  That is great for manpower but not great for quality because upper management acts like you can just throw anybody out there and things will just be better.  Not enough time to properly train or be close enough to make on the spot corrections.  It is very frustrating and kills morale to just hear "go, go, go" instead of actual solutions.  I am seriously considering a bid on a job in the Quality Department. It would be much easier on my body - I am approaching 50 - and it is time to start looking at less physically demanding work if they are not going to allow us proper training time.  Enough of my rant.

I have nine Reaper Bones miniatures in progress to complete my small collection of Orcs and Goblins.  I am trying to paint a bunch of the usual encounters in my typical campaigns.  So far, it is coming together pretty good.  I will get them finished soon but I am currently at the point pictured below.

I am planning on my next gaming purchase to be the Colonial Marines sourcebook for the ALIEN RPG.  I dig the core rulebook and I am interested in seeing what new options and ideas are in this new sourcebook.

The house hunt is going pretty good.  I have received wonderful news on the financing so that makes things easier.  The only problem right now is finding a house that is not already in the progress of being purchased.  It seems that houses are going as fast as toilet paper was going when COVID fist started. I will find one but it just might take a little bit.

My daughter turned 13 on Thursday.  We are having her birthday party on Sunday. I got her a Roblox gift card and an Apple gift card.  I was out of ideas but I do know she will like both of them.  I am also going to take her to get new softball shoes.  She will be happy!

That is about it around here.  The schedule has been work, home, sleep, work, view a house, home, sleep, work, etc. and repeat for the last two weeks or so.