31 Days of Horror 2020 edition

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

TITLE-Idle Hands
SOURCE-Columbia Pictures DVD

Back in the spring of 99 a kinda now forgotten horror/comedy came out. The studio was thinking,well we got Devon Sawa(remember back when he was a name actor?),Seth Green and Jessica Alba.This movie is gonna be huge.Then the movie flopped at the box office,not even making 5 million in ticket sales. But became a kinda cult hit on home video and it's many airings on Cable tv.

I skipped this in the theater. Mostly cause I have never thought Jessica Alba could act. She is a nice looking lady. But has so little acting talent. It was 2000 when a friend rented Idle Hands. I watched it laughed a few times. And really until last year when I heard that Scream Factory was putting it out on Blu Ray that I thought about the film again. Skip ahead to early this summer. Was at the only remaining thrift store in town. And there was a pile of never opened DVDs. Figured "Hey I kinda remember Idle Hands being ok. It's worth dropping 50 cents for."

Devon Sawa is our lead. He is a slacker and with his two friends spends most of his time getting high. Devon's hand get possessed and it is up to him,his friends and Jessica Alba to stop it.

The FX work isn't bad. The acting is decent,well beside Alba. The film looks and sounds decent. But it never rises about being just average as fuck. This feels like a film that with either a better script and/or some better actors it would have been huge. But since it didnt have those it is a minor cult hit.

Idle Hands is worth seeing on say Netflix/Amazon Prime video or Hulu. Or if you find it cheap. But I wouldn't pay more than 5 bucks for this on Blu or a buck for the DVD.

Idle Hands gets a C-.

COdy Covers Satanic Rites of Dracual

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

Santo and The Vengeance Of The Vampire Women-Sadly, not a sequel to the 1962 release which was a far, far better film. A mad doctor releases a vampire princess who was staked 200 years ago by an ancestor of ol' droopy drawers himself, Santo. She wants revenge, the mad doctor wants flesh for the critter he has in the basement and I just want this damned thing to end. I'm the only one who gets what they want (and deserve). I like Santo movies, but too many too close together is like a bad burrito.
October 2020

1-The Raven (35) 6
2-The Cosmic Monsters 4
3-Grave Robbers (88) 4
4-Cemetery Of Terror 5
5-Shivers 7.5
6-Clawed:The Legend of Sasquatch ack!
7-Werewolf Shadow 7
8-The Bat People 5
9-Atom Age Vampire 2
10-Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD 2
11-the Hunt (2020) 6.5
12-Frailty 8
13-Fog Island 4.5
14-Mark of The Vampire 7.5
15-The Mask(61) 6
16-Tales From The Hood III ack!
17-Santo Vs The Vampire Women 8.5
18-Tales Of Halloween 6.5
19-Swamp Of The Lost Monsters ack!
20-Spiritism 5
21-Terror Creatures From Beyond The Grave 5
22-Teenage Frankenstein 6.5
23-Mystery Of The Wax Museum 6.5
24-Count Dracula (1970) 5
25-Castle Of Blood 10
26-The Dorm That Dripped Blood 4.5
27-Madhouse (74) 4
28-Doctor X 7.5
29-Secret Of The Blue Room 7
30-Santo Vs The Zombies 4
31-Santo Vengeance Of The Vampire Women 3

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

Mandy-Ya' know, if this was a flick about Nic Cage running amok with a chainsaw at a Barry Manilow concert, I could dig it. Cage going wild eyed standing on Manilow's piano and carving it up. But no. We get this trippy, spacey piece of drivel about Satanic looking bikers, a Jesus Freak cult leader who goes gonzo over Mandy, Cage's wife (not the song). Mandy is kidnapped and killed by the cult and Cage goes OTT seeking revenge against the bikers, the cult and its stoned leader. It is more painful than the song. A lawn cigar dipped in LSD. Netflix dvd rental.

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)-What can be said about NOTLD that hasn't already been said? I think it should be rated in the top 100 films of all time. The gut punch ending of the 60's, a hair more depressing than The Great Silence. Criterion Blu Ray.

October 2020

1-The Raven (35) 6
2-The Cosmic Monsters 4
3-Grave Robbers (88) 4
4-Cemetery Of Terror 5
5-Shivers 7.5
6-Clawed:The Legend of Sasquatch ack!
7-Werewolf Shadow 7
8-The Bat People 5
9-Atom Age Vampire 2
10-Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD 2
11-the Hunt (2020) 6.5
12-Frailty 8
13-Fog Island 4.5
14-Mark of The Vampire 7.5
15-The Mask(61) 6
16-Tales From The Hood III ack!
17-Santo Vs The Vampire Women 8.5
18-Tales Of Halloween 6.5
19-Swamp Of The Lost Monsters ack!
20-Spiritism 5
21-Terror Creatures From Beyond The Grave 5
22-Teenage Frankenstein 6.5
23-Mystery Of The Wax Museum 6.5
24-Count Dracula (1970) 5
25-Castle Of Blood 10
26-The Dorm That Dripped Blood 4.5
27-Madhouse (74) 4
28-Doctor X 7.5
29-Secret Of The Blue Room 7
30-Santo Vs The Zombies 4
31-Santo Vengeance Of The Vampire Women 3
32-Mandy ack!
33-Night Of The Living Dead (1968) 10

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

I kinda fell flat on my ass this year, but in my defence I was playing horror video games, including finally finishing Resident Evil VII and starting up Alien: Isolation again. Tonight I watched Wax Mask, and enjoyed it. Funny story, but I first tried to watch this movie on my wedding night, but the picture quality on the channel showing it was awful. Fast forward 20 years, and I grabbed a download of it to watch, and it also didn't work! But I finally got my hands on it and watched it and liked it, even with the last few minutes not making the slightest bit of sense!

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

TITLE-Stephen King's A Good Marriage
SOURCE-Some file I found on a flash drive I lost 5 years ago

Yea I'm guessing the file I watched was a DVD rip. But wow first off Full Dark,No Stars is my favorite Stephen King Novellea/Short Story collection. And over the past 10 years 3 of the four Novelleas have been made into films. I covered Big Driver and 1922 in the past. So time to complete this trilogy. What is it with Stephen King novellea collections only have 3 of their 4 stories made into films? Same thing happened with Different Seasons.

Joan Allen is our lead and she discovers a hidden compartment in her husbands garage/workshop. In this compartment is a pile of IDs. IDs of women who had died in the past years by a uncaught serial killer. Anthony Lapaglia is her husband and part of his job is him being gone for days at a time. Joan starts checking the dates of when her husband was gone and the various unsolved deaths. They match up! She now is sure that her husband of 25 years is a monster.

Based on the BTK Killer,Dennis Rader,this is a pretty well done serial killer film. The cast isn't big names but Joan and Anthony are great as the leads. This will be the third time I have watched the movie. And really need to track down a DVD or Blu Ray of it.

Out of the so far three films based on stuff from Full Dark,No Stars A Good Marriage is in second place. 1922 is amazing and easily gets 1st. Good Driver was hindered by being made for Lifetime. So is the worst,but still worth seeing.

If you haven't read Full Dark,No Stars and/or seen any of the three films I mentioned...GO GET THE BOOK AND SEE THE THREE FILMS!! I see people griping often about how there has been no good horror in years. And here are 3 damn good horror films that no one mentions.

A Good Marriage gets a B+.

CodyLL covers Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

TITLE-Tarantula!
SOURCE-Svengoolie Airing on MeTV



Well this October has sucked. Between the horrid weather,had a few days when it hit the low 90s. And then the recent Hurricane Zeta coming real close to where I live,just ain't been a good month.

I had planned on doing a bunch of stuff for Halloween day here at the blog. But something out of my control ate up all my free time for most of this month. Been many days were I barely managed to get a film watched and written up.

So I needed something to watch today. Flipped thru the DVR and saw I had Sven's airing of Tarantula. I hadn't seen this film in over 30 years at least. Plus hey it's Sven. I try to watch him most weeks cause he is one of the few horror hosts left.

Directed by Jack Arnold,Tarantula came out in the mid 50s from Universal. Which is why Sven is airing it. Sven has a deal with Universal to show their films. THis is another of those 50s b/w giant creature cause of that evil science films.



Leo G Carroll,who's not over a barrel,is testing out a serum on various animals and insects. It cause them to grow big. But early on we see some kind of mutanted human/monster attack Leo. Seems Leo tested this serum out on a person and it caused them to mutate horribly. Leo ends up with the serum in his body. So the rest of the film I'm just waiting on him to transform. When Leo gets attacked a Tarnatula! escapes from the hidden lab. Now this spider is like the size of a 10 lb dog. But once it takes to the hills it GROWS!!



The Tarantula! wanders around and does stuff. Looking horrible most of the time cause they used what appears to be rear projection to make the spider look big. And Leo starts to mutate!


Our lead John Agar is out with his woman riding up and down the highways in the desert. There is at least close to 10 minutes of the film that is just those two driving up and down what I think is the same road just shot from various angles.


Leo fully mutates and goes after Mara Corday,the afore mentioned lady. But the Tarantula! attacks the house they are in. Leo is killing by the collasping roof. And John and Mara run off. They run into the cops. But the bullets ain't doing shit to Tarantula! So the Sheriff calls in the Air Force. Who use NAPALM on Tarantula! and kill it.


That is the air force pilot that kills Tarantula! Look closely at him. Looks a bit familiar... It's Clint Eastwood!

The Sven airing was great. I ended up watching this with my mother,been having to help take care of her this month since she just had knee replacement surgery end of September. She liked how Sven would give some history on most of the cast of the film. Cause for people like John Agar and Leo G Carroll she knew their faces but couldn't remember what she knew them from. Well before and after the ad breaks Sven was there to fill in that info.Not bad for a mid 50s creature feature.I enjoyed it and am happy I saw this again after years.

Tarnatula! gets a C+


CodyLL covers The Devil Rides out

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

To wrap it up...

Death Curse Of Tartu-This film has always been pretty to look at. The colors pop and the locations are wonderful and creepy. The Seminole Winds blowing (real or faked) lend some nice atmosphere. In regards to the plot, did I mention how wonderful the color is? The print I watched had fade to blacks, one smack dab in the middle of a scene and then the next shot was the same scene, so this could have been a print for tv. The death curse of this film is that it is pretty dull. TCM viewing.

Night Of The Living Dead (1990)- Okay, it isn't the original. Why remake a classic? I get it. This is damn good film on its own. I love the character arc of Barbara as she goes from mousey to a fighter. It doesn't have as much of the social subtext as the original, unless you look at Barbara as a feminist figure. This was the Umbrella release, so the colors weren't as fucked up as the American bd release.

El Baron Del Terror (The Brainiac)- To paraphrase Eddie Coyle from the book Friends Of Eddie Coyle where he talks about marriage, this could apply to this film as well. 'I don't have enough time to explain it to you, my friend. If I did, you wouldn't believe me anyway". Surreal horror classic. My only gripe though is regarding the revenge factor for this and thousands of other horror film. Why wait X amount of years to come back from the dead and kill the descendants of those who wronged you? If you can do that, why wait? Kill 'em in 5 years or less. Casa Negra dvd.

Horror Island-This is an old dark castle movie that I find to be just as fun viewing as it was the first time so many years ago. More fun than horror, but a nice topper for Halloween night.
October 2020

1-The Raven (35) 6
2-The Cosmic Monsters 4
3-Grave Robbers (88) 4
4-Cemetery Of Terror 5
5-Shivers 7.5
6-Clawed:The Legend of Sasquatch ack!
7-Werewolf Shadow 7
8-The Bat People 5
9-Atom Age Vampire 2
10-Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD 2
11-the Hunt (2020) 6.5
12-Frailty 8
13-Fog Island 4.5
14-Mark of The Vampire 7.5
15-The Mask(61) 6
16-Tales From The Hood III ack!
17-Santo Vs The Vampire Women 8.5
18-Tales Of Halloween 6.5
19-Swamp Of The Lost Monsters ack!
20-Spiritism 5
21-Terror Creatures From Beyond The Grave 5
22-Teenage Frankenstein 6.5
23-Mystery Of The Wax Museum 6.5
24-Count Dracula (1970) 5
25-Castle Of Blood 10
26-The Dorm That Dripped Blood 4.5
27-Madhouse (74) 4
28-Doctor X 7.5
29-Secret Of The Blue Room 7
30-Santo Vs The Zombies 4
31-Santo Vengeance Of The Vampire Women 3
32-Mandy ack!
33-Night Of The Living Dead (1968) 10
34-Death Curse Of Tartu 2
35-Night Of The Living Dead (1990) 9
36-the Brainiac 9
37-Horror Island 8

[paul h. woly boly Find all posts View Profile Close paul h.]

I failed spectacularly. Although I did a terrible job of watching and tracking horror stuff everyday, there are a couple of things that caught me by surprise that I want to mention. One night I was watching Mark E Lester's Night of the Running Man on Amazon Prime, fell asleep about twenty minutes in [SPOILER], but then I woke up right when the screamy foot-boiling torture scene came on. Holy Cow! John Glover's hammy sadism knocked that scene out of the park. It bothered me for days afterwards. Then I read up and realized that Mark Lester directed it, and remembered that his violence in Class of 1984 was also memorable and disturbing. Other observations: Scott Glenn was appropriately creepy, and I cannot stand the "protagonist" Andrew McCarthy in just about everything he has been in, including this film; I just find him unlikable. That torture scene though!

Paul Schraeder's First Reformed (also on Prime) with Ethan Hawke is probably the most disturbing film I have watched in a long time, but it does have a redemptive, hopeful ending. I think it is the best film that Schraeder has made, as a director, in many many years.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

Halloween night brought the traditional viewing of Suspiria at my house, and this year I finished three horror video games in the run up to the big night, finishing Days Gone, Resident Evil VII and, on Halloween day I knocked off Resident Evil: Revelations.