The Burning

I can't exactly remember how I found out about this little known 80's slasher flick.  It may have been when I was looking up something on Tom Savini (Friday the 13th) as he helped with the special effects.  The movie was partially written by Harvey Weinstein in 1981.

I had my doubts going in, but I gotta say this one surprised me at how good it was.  The movie centers around an alcoholic summer camp caretaker by the name of  Cropsy that is seriously burned and disfigured by a group of teenage boys.  5 years later he returns to the same camp to exact his revenge.  Tom Savini's special effects are top notch in this movie.  The killer's weapon is a pair of ordinary garden sheers.  Let me tell you though Tom found some excellent and realistic ways to impale and kill the kids and counselors.  While the movie has a pretty good story and the acting isn't half bad (you get to see a young Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame) the movie does fall prey at times to the 80's slasher cliche - pretty girl + boy + woods = hanky panky which = victims for the killer.  That aside this was a fun ride and worth a watch if you've never seen it before.  I believe you can currently find it on Netflix.

Dead Alive (Brain Dead)

Most people know director Peter Jackson from the epic Lords of the Ring movies, but back in 1992 he directed an awesome horror comedy flick originally entitled Brain Dead.

As I said earlier with Shaun of the Dead - I don't always like when humor and horror are mixed together.  This movie however is another exception to the rule. When I refer to humor one word usually pops into the minds of people who have seen this movie - the Priest.

Let me also go on to say this is one of the goriest movies ever made. No seriously. Don't believe me?  Watch this clip!

I'm told that over 300 gallons of fake blood were used in the making! I can't say enough good things about this movie. What? You're still sitting here reading this? Why? Do find a copy of this movie pronto! You'll be glad you did.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976)

I'm always looking to discover new horror films to watch, especially in the month of October. While I sometimes check the Red Box near my work for something new to watch, I usually default to Netflix to find my next movie.

This week I ran across an article ranking the best 30 horror movies currently available on Netflix and the original The Town that Dreaded Sundown was the one I chose to watch.

This is one of those low budget horror movies from the late 70's. I'd classify it as a slasher flick, but it's well ahead of it's time. Set in Texarkana, TX, this movie is based on an actual crime that took place in the 40's. The killer, simply known as the Phantom Killer was never caught. He attacked 8 and killed 5 people during a four month span. The killer simply wears a sack over his head w/ two eye holes cut out. Could this killer have been an early inspiration to Jason Vorhees as shown in part 2 of Friday the 13th?

The movie stars Academy Award Winner Ben Johnson and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island) among others. The pacing of the movie is a little slow for modern movie watchers, perhaps that is a reason the movie is being remade and will be released later this month (Oct. 16th, 2014). The movie reminds me of an Alfred Hitchcock film as a lot of the violence takes place off screen. This could be because of the low budget, or simply for the matter that what you hear and envision in your mind is more frightening than anything you can see.

I found the movie to be entertaining. It's a little older than what I would normally search out, but it came highly recommended from several sources. I had to keep reminding myself that the movie takes place in the 40's and life was just a little different back then. On that note it was refreshing that the movie was full of gratuitous sex and nudity, as I'm sure the remake will feature. Ben Johnson and Andrew Pine both put in solid performances as their respective characters who are chasing the killer.

As I've mentioned, this movie is currently available to stream on Netflix and it's worth the 1:30 running time.

Evidence

I'm not always a fan of the "found footage" type movies. However I recently ran across this fairly new (2013) movie on Netflix and gave it a try.

This movie could easily be mistaken for an episode of CSI or one of these other criminal dramas. The movie centers around a group of detectives trying to piece together what went wrong (i.e. dead bodies) at an abandoned gas station in Nevada. The movie goes back and forth from the detectives story being told in real time to watching the found video footage. Unlike some movies that are filmed on a handycam, I did get a sick feeling watching this. If you've seen The Blair Witch Project then you should know what I mean. Acting was pretty believable among all the actors and actresses. Seems they had a decent budget to work with as the special effects weren't bad. I've seen a lot of horror movie villains use an array of things to kill their victims, but never a blow torch! For that reason a lone you may want to tune in!

It has horror elements to it, but it's not your typical horror movie. I've read a lot of comments bashing this film, but I found it enjoyable. Are there plot holes to the story? Yes, but if you can push some of the details aside I still found it to be a fun ride. The movie can currently be found on Netflix or on Amazon Instant Video.

Chopping Mall

Does anyone else remember the old show on the USA Network called "Up All Night" hosted by Gilbert Godfrey? Well I originally caught this super cheesy B flick back then. Filmed in 1986 a bunch of teens hide inside a furniture store inside a local mall to throw a big party after hours. What they don't know is the mall is guarded by 3 robots and that the mall is sealed off from the outside world come 12 midnight. A bolt of lightning proceeds to strike the mall which in turns short circuits the robots and turns them into killer robots!  Told you it was cheesy. By the way, this movie is sometime referred to simply as Killbots.

I'm only including this movie to the feature because of how terrible it is - not because it's a good movie. It's watchable, but I can't really recommend it. You can probably find most of the good scenes on YouTube (like the one below) if you search for them. It'll save you a lot of time.

Extreme headache!

KO Korner: G1 Transformers Headmaster "Highbrow"

Last year sometime a good friend of mine passed along a G1 KO that I've never seen before...Headmaster Highbrow! This is an excellent addition to my G1 KO collection.

I've seen a lot of crazy G1 KO stuff in my time, but this is a first. Better yet the toy features a KO Headmaster figure too.

Best I can tell this KO is very close to the original G1 told. Even the stickers seem to be patterned after the originals. Plastic quality surprisingly is good. It's not 80's Hasbro quality, but it didn't feel like that cheap Chinese junk either. Even the cockpit hinge seems sturdy.

The included Headmaster figure also shares the same good plastic quality the helicopter sports. Unlike the original however, this figure is cast in all neon green plastic. The only paint app is the silver used on the face.

Turns out there is one small difference in the two Headmaster figures. When plugged into the bodies and the chest plate is pulled down to reveal their tech rankings, the KO's levels are all equal. This means the notches on the bottom of the head are of the same lengths. The original toy's tabs have different lengths, giving him different ratings.

All in all I really like this KO. I don't know if it originally came with weapons or not, but I'd be tempted to pick up a pair and paint them yellow or olive green to match...but Highbrow's guns are the cheapest TF accessory on the secondary market to buy. Good plastic quality and some crazy colors make this one of my favorite G1 KOs in my collection.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Are all the modern day horror movies remakes?! First off let me say that I've never seen Wes Craven's original The Hills Have Eyes so I won't be comparing these two. In fact I'm not even sure when I originally saw the trailer for the 2006 remake that I knew it was a remake.

This was another film that I caught in the theatre while in college. I didn't know anything about the movie going in other than what I had seen in the trailer. Wow. What an intense movie. I genuinely felt for the family being terrorized throughout the film. While it has become one of my favorite horror movies I find it hard to re-watch it. It's not that it's a bad movie or even the gore. It just seems so authentically real that it creeps me out a little. Now being the father of 2 young girls there is one scene in the movie that is really disturbing. It's not that it's graphic - it (mostly) happens off camera. If you've seen this movie then you probably know what scene I'm eluding to.

All in all this is a fantastic movie. The character development is great. The "hero" of the movie is probably the last person you would expect. That may be a little cliche now, but it worked then. I was totally joyous in rooting for the family to survive.

How do you protect your loose retro video game cartridges?

One of my growing hobbies is video games. Namely retro games. While I have certain criteria when it comes to what I look for when buying a game for a select platforms, others I'm OK with owning just the loose cartridge.

Take the old 8-bit Nintendo (NES) games for example. While many of the games featured really nice box art, I just don't care to own the cardboard boxes the games came in. So I'm OK with just buying a loose cart. 

One thing about collecting retro games is you have to keep them clean, otherwise every time you insert them into the game system you are just making the connection pins dirtier. I takes a little time to properly clean an NES game or an NES console so my goal is to keep the games as clean as possible. This includes keeping dust off the games. The games originally came with a black dust sleeve and while those work OK, I wanted something better. Stoneagegamer.com came up with some really nice VHS style clamshell cases recently, but being on a tight budget I couldn't afford to house all my NES games in those. Thankfully I found a cheaper solution that works for me. Enter Videogameboxprotectors.com

These cases are made of PET (Polyethylene Terepthalate) which is a better plastic than PVC. They are acid free and ligind free, making them perfect for long term storage. They are 12 mil / 0.3 mm thick and are shipped to you unfolded. Simply fold them together and insert your game!

I had a few of these type cases that I acquired online years ago, but was unable to find them again until recently. These guys offer a variety of sizes to fit just about any retro cartridge. They also offer cases that fit your boxed games too!

Prices are more than reasonable in my opinion. The cases are sold individually or in packs of 10, 25, 50, 75 and on. NES cases for instance are $.80 each, 10 for $7.10 ($.71 ea) or 25 for $15.00 ($.60 ea).

I wanted to case my NES, SNES, Famicom and Super Famicom loose carts, since I don't care to own the boxes (in most cases) for those platforms. My first order recently arrived and I've got to say I love the product. I will be back for more, especially to finish off my NES collection and start off casing my loose Famicom carts as well.

One of the things I like about these cases, especially for SNES and Super Famicom is that it allows me to finally stack my games. With the natural shape of the cartridges they don't stack very well, or stand up on their side. Now that they are encased I can display and organize them on my bookshelf however I see fit.

The standard NES cases also fit Camerica, Color Dreams, Tengen and Wisdom Tree carts.

As you can see the Super Famicom cases are slightly smaller than the SNES cases.

I picked up a few Genesis cases as well hoping they would fit a few loose Mega Drive carts I have...and they fit perfectly!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

OK. You may have not agreed with me about the 1990 version of The Night of the Living Dead being better than the original, but what about this remake? And by the way, don't let the name Michael Bay fool you...this ain't no Transformers garbage here!

Trailer

I saw the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the theaters before I ever had watched the original. I walked away from the movie a little shaken, but highly entertained! I knew my review would be biased and incomplete years ago so I searched out the best version of the original on DVD. While I can appreciate the original, Michael Bay's 2003 version simply blows the original out of the water...no offense Tobe Hooper. I could say that Jessica Biel in this movie is worth the price of admission alone (can I get an amen?), but seriously this movie is excellent - from the opening credits to the closing credits. I was on the edge of my seat for practically the entire movie. R. Lee Ermey's language did get on my nerves as it's very vulger and laced with profanity, but it just shows you how messed up of a character Sheriff Hoyt really is. Just re-watching the trailer again made me tense up. I have pretty thick skin and a strong stomach when it comes to horror movies, but this one got to me. In a good way though. I highly suggest this version of TTCM if you haven't already seen it. The modern day prequel is pretty darn nifty too!

Night of the Living Dead

   

Come on! You know this movie had to make the cut! When it comes to zombie movies no one makes a better flick than George A. Romero. While there have been some other good zombie movies to come along the way Romero is the grand daddy of the genre.

When it comes to the movie that put Romero on the map I'm divided between the black and white 1968 original and Tom Savini's 1990 remake. Most people would agree remakes of movies aren't as good as the originals. I can think of a few that buck the trend and the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead is one of those for me. Having seen both versions multiple times I just seem to gravitate to the 90's version for several reasons.

1) Color. It makes a difference. Alfred Hitchcock may have made some great black & white movies in his time, but seeing everything happen in vivid colors makes a lot of difference in my book. 2) The actors and actresses. I love Tony Todd and his character of Ben in the 90's version is better. Same goes for Patricia Tallman as Barbara. The original actress that portrayed Barbara was so freakin' annoying in the 1968 movie. At least we see this new version of Barbara get over her fear and fight back. 3) Tom Savini! I love gore in my horror movies and Tom did a great job with the updated special effects in the 1990 version. 4) The ending. If you haven't seen either version (what have you been doing? Seriously!) then I don't want to spoil it for you. I just find the end of the 1990 remake that much better and satisfying. While I love all of (Romero's) sequels that spawned from this movie there is just something so special about the original - whether you prefer 1968 or 1990 - both are classic movies that deserved to be watched each October.

1968 Trailer

1990 Trailer