Jimbits76
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Bitsy's Halloween viewing.Heee Heeee Heeee Heeee Heeeeeee (that was supposed to be a witch's cackle)
Come sit around the fire children, Auntie Bitsy welcomes you all to her film corner.
This time she's going to offer up her essential Halloween movies.
To view with kids....
Pick any of the following for pre trick or treat viewing.
A Nightmare before Christmas. Stop Motion lunacy. Dark, funny, groovy yet still touching. Enough silliness to get the kids giggling.
Gremlins. Okay technically it's a Christmas film but deep down it has a dark mischievous heart. Inspired goopy setpieces mix multicoloured fluids with Tex Avery mania yet they fail to disguise the blackly comic undertone. It's Capra in the nineteen eighties. Says it all!
Ghostbusters. Fluff! Silly, slightly scary fun. Any movie that was probably pitched as the Blues Brothers take on a 100 feet tall Marshmallow has got to be great. Kids should love it. Plus, for the dads, Sigourney Weaver having fun in a feisty role!
Labyrinth. Mind boggling, weird, inner space oddity featuring a group of muppets, fabulous Froud art direction and David Bowie. A little creepy but still fun. Better choice than The Dark Crystal because that will still terrify adults let alone small children! Plus, for the mum's you have David Bowie in a huge codpiece!
Once the kids are in bed....
The younger teens are still about...
Poltergeist. Effects roller coaster? A messy wrestle for control between director and producer? Forget all of that! Creepy skeletons in the pool, creepy old trees, creepy blonde little girl, creepy melting faces, creepy moving beef and even creepier clowns. It's the disneyland of horror but it's fun.
Jaws. It's old, creaky and the shark still looks fake but for a blockbuster flick there is a lot of gore and the Ben Gardner sequence still makes everybody jump no matter how many times they have seen it. A masterclass in suspense by a film maker at the top of his game.
Once the teens are in bed...
Halloween. The original and best. A shape with a William Shatner mask and a huge kitchen knife kills teens. It wasn't the movie that broke the mould but it was the one that did it with the most style. The opening panaglide sequence is beautiful as is the rest of the film yet it still manages to be frightening even though the invincible killer thing has become pastiche.
The Exorcist. The only film in cinema history that will cause temperatures to drop through it's playing. Dramatic and glacier slow, the sense of foreboding and dread still doesn't manage to prepare you for what is to come. You feel that sensation? That isn't goosebumps, it's your skin trying to crawl away and hide from Pazuzu.
The Thing. Like Ridley Scott's Alien, it's a film that follows the premise of a group of characters trying to survive against an unseen/supernatural/unstoppable/unearthly force. Unlike Alien it's not subtle, paced or art directed to within an inch of it's life. Not that this is a bad thing of course. The Thing is a belting, adrenaline fuelled, gore soaked nutcase of a movie that twists your expectations and surprises you with just how sick the human imagination can be. Best practical gore effects ever! Horrific and frightening, a great film for All Hallows!
The Descent. Another group in peril narrative but this one has to be seen. It's women, in dark caves with weird things. Playing on every primal fear, it is simply terrifying. The last film to make me jump and cry out loud in fright. An ambiguous yet intelligent ending upsets many but don't let it put you off. Gore and scares abound....saying that I'll never watch the bloody thing again!
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A relentless sensory overload or harsh sound and raw imagery. Sickening gonzo lunacy that grabs you by the throat and shakes you until you can't stand anymore. Not as gory or violent as anybody remembers or even imagines. Just distubing. Very disturbing.
Once everybody else is in bed.
Movie nerds, time to put down your Akira Kurosawa books and stop producing intenet lists of 100 reasons why the original Dawn of the Dead is better than the remake. For now, you see, it is the scariest time of the witching hour...it is the geeking hour.
Rec. Spanish zombies versus firefighters shown through the eyes of a news reporter's camera. Sounds daft right? Watch and find out. Claustrophobic and terrifying, this is the fright ride that Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead should have been.
Audition. A gorgeous dreamlike tale of romance, love and infatuation or a sickening story of sexist attitudes, fallibility, discomfort, emasculation and torture. Both beautiful and repulsive, the twist in teh tale will be with you for life. Graphic, harsh, uncomforable and heartbreaking. It's a little like life...oh I get it now!
Switchblade Romance. French slasher (also known as Haute Tension) that strives to bind the unstoppable maniac of the Halloween flicks with the Argento Giallo horror genre. It's sickeningly gory and will leave you praying for a break in the onslaught just so your heart rate can drop to levels that are somewhat normal. Yes it has the worst twist in cinema history, yes the twist actually renders all that went before it as ridiculous but forget about that...it is the terror and gore you should admire and when they come, there is nothing quite like it.
So folks, they are Bitsy's recommendations. Any suggestions?
J
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uncle aj
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Quiet day at the office Jim?  
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Jimbits76
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Right...where did I put that mask and razor glove....
J
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uncle aj
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| Jimbits76 wrote: | Right...where did I put that mask and razor glove....
J |
You mean that's not a mask.
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Jimbits76
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| uncle aj wrote: | | Jimbits76 wrote: | Right...where did I put that mask and razor glove....
J |
You mean that's not a mask. |
Nope...it's just that my face always looks like that after I've wiped my botty and forgot to take my razor glove off!
J
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Lion
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Jim, sometimes I think you have way too much time on your hands!!! LOL!!!
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Jimbits76
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Nah...I'm at home this afternoon and I like horror movies!
J
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BigBird
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I feel asleep after the first one million words. 
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uncle aj
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What about Psycho? When it was first released, you weren't allowed into the theatre after it had started. The scene where the wheelchair is spun around to reveal the old lady or what was left of her, was a real shocker. 
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Jimbits76
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| BigBird wrote: | | I feel asleep after the first one million words. |
Ah the original slasher...famed for chasing young women around in their underwear!!!!!
J
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Lion
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| uncle aj wrote: | | What about Psycho? When it was first released, you weren't allowed into the theatre after it had started. The scene where the wheelchair is spun around to reveal the old lady or what was left of her, was a real shocker. |
Adrian that is a classic movie and is still chilling today. Another really great movie was the Birds by Alfred Hitchcock!!!
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Lisa
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Blair Witch Project..... (shudder!)
Watched it while pregnant with Phoebe and am surprised she wasn't born with a mark or something....
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uncle aj
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| Lisa wrote: | Blair Witch Project..... (shudder!)
Watched it while pregnant with Phoebe and am surprised she wasn't born with a mark or something.... |
I'm surprised she wasn't premature!!
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Lisa
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| uncle aj wrote: | | Lisa wrote: | Blair Witch Project..... (shudder!)
Watched it while pregnant with Phoebe and am surprised she wasn't born with a mark or something.... |
I'm surprised she wasn't premature!! |
Let's just say I was glad to have stocked up on a generous diaper supply a few weeks early!
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uncle aj
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| Lisa wrote: | | uncle aj wrote: | | Lisa wrote: | Blair Witch Project..... (shudder!)
Watched it while pregnant with Phoebe and am surprised she wasn't born with a mark or something.... |
I'm surprised she wasn't premature!! |
Let's just say I was glad to have stocked up on a generous diaper supply a few weeks early! |
I bet those sat near you were as well.
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Jimbits76
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Nice one Lisa....I saw Blair Witch Project at a UK preview showing.
It went down really poorly but a few recognised the genius in it.
Truly scary...I dreaded the sun going down onscreen.
J
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away36
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| uncle aj wrote: | | Quiet day at the office Jim? |
 TOO funny, Adrian!
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Lisa
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| Jimbits76 wrote: | Nice one Lisa....I saw Blair Witch Project at a UK preview showing.
It went down really poorly but a few recognised the genius in it.
Truly scary...I dreaded the sun going down onscreen.
J |
For a while there, I dreaded the sun going down anywhere!
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