A blog featuring the game related ramblings and ideas of a role-playing gamer since 1980. My interests include many games and gaming related topics, but my main focus will be on Open Ended Original Edition Old School Fantasy Adventure Sandbox Role Playing Games (OEOEFASRPG™) The Open-Ended Sandbox Exploration of Dungeons, Wilderness and Cities. Occasionally, other topics outside of gaming will be discussed here as well.
THE GATE was one of those films my buddies and I just stumbled across at the video store. It became one of our repeat rentals after watching it the first time. THE GATE struck a chord with us not because it was a slasher or full of jump scares but because it was more of a horror adventure movie. The use of practical effects and forced perspective worked really well in this film.
THE GATE follows two young protagonists, Glen and Terry. Glen's parents are out of town for the next couple of days and leave his older sister, Alexandria, in charge while they are gone. Predictably, she has a party while they are gone. Glen and Terry are too young so they are upstairs fiddling around with a geode they found earlier that day from a hole construction workers left in the yard. They crack it open and strange words appear on a nearby notepad. The pair go downstairs as the older kids are playing a levitation game and Terry gets levitated.
The next day, Terry brings over a heavy metal album. The lyrics to this album are based on "The Dark Book". The lyrics explain how to open a portal to a realm of dark gods. The kids discover that they have done just that. Do they close the gate? Do they stop the evil demons from entering their world? Watch THE GATE and find out...
This post is different from the rest. Instead of talking about a specific film I am going to provide links to several fan films based on horror properties. I was bored one night and tried searching for fan films since I used to read fan fiction. Some of these I have watched some I have not so I have no guesses on overall quality. Maybe you will like some of these?
EVILSPEAK shares a very basic premise with The Exorcist; demonic possession. Instead of a person getting possessed against their will EVILSPEAK tells the story of Stanley Coopersmith. He is the awkward kid that is always getting bullied and picked on at school. One day he finds an ancient tome and figures out how to use the rituals contained within the book. Stanley summons a demon and gets revenge on his bullies.
Although EVILSPEAK shares some story elements and has similar effects to The Exorcist it did not frighten me like The Exorcist. I watched this several times over the years. My buddies and I would either find it on cable light night or rent it from one of the video stores. It has one of the best cuts from an opening scene in ancient times to the modern world with a decapitated head turning into a soccer ball. The effects during the possession period of the movie looked pretty decent as well. If a movie that basically mixes The Exorcist and (sort of) The Omen together then check out EVILSPEAK. An underappreciated gem from the best horror decade, the 1980s.
I was very young the first time I watched THE EXORCIST. I am not quite sure how young I was but it was not more than 9 or 10 years old. Maybe not the best choice of film for someone of that age but that is an entirely different discussion. It was the very first horror movie I can recall viewing.
THE EXORCIST had a profound affect on me. I grew up going to church so just the basic premise of the movie gave me a chill. After I saw THE EXORCIST I was terrified of the prospect of being possessed by the devil. When I went to bed the closet door absolutely had to be closed; even then I would lay facing the door so I could notice if the door started to open during the night. I would also cover up my head and leave a small hole allowing me to see that closet. For me, the young me anyway, THE EXORCIST will always be the scariest movie ever made.
I have never watched THE EXORCIST as an adult. I am not worried about being scared all over again. No, not at all. I am concerned that I might just find it boring or not worthy of the fear my young mind associated with the film. There are times that nostalgia is better left untainted.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
