Once in awhile a movie comes along that is beautiful on the inside and the outside. That would be Stoker. Stoker is a thinking man’s psychological thriller with elements of mystery and horror. This film was directed by Chan-wook Park and was released February 28, 2013, starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Mia Wasikowska, and Dermot Mulroney.
This is the tale of a young girl who suddenly loses her father to a horrible accident. She soon learns she has an uncle she never knew she had. Her Uncle Charlie comes to stay with India Stoker and her mother, Evelyn. India begins to notice there is something not quite right with Uncle Charlie but she is not sure what that is. She doesn’t seem very disturbed but perhaps curious. To reveal much more about the story would spoil it, but it was 105 minutes well spent.
At the start of the film it seemed to be a sort of cross between The Addams Family and the Dark Shadows TV series. By the end of the film, my opinion had totally changed. Everything I thought I knew had been turned on its head. The film keeps you guessing and is a very slow burn. I wasn’t shocked by the ending but I do not believe that was what the writer intended as the story was told the way a puzzle is put together. One thing this movie absolutely was, was a coming of age story albeit a bizarre one.
If you are in the mood for a movie that is a little different but still subtly terrifying give Stoker a chance. You will not be sorry!
STOKER TRIVIA:
– Stoker was director Chan-wook Park’s first English language film.
– The script was included in 2010’s “Black List” of best unproduced screenplays.
– The script was writer Wentworth Miller’s first.
– Jodie Foster and Carey Mulligan were originally cast as Evelyn and India Stoker but dropped out and were replaced by Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska.
– The cinematographer was Chung-hoon Chung who also was cinematographer for Oldboy (2003).
It’s that time of the week again. It’s the time of the week where we sneak around a semi-abandoned campground that is stalked by a psychotic killer! Don’t say I never do anything for you people! Join Ron and his co-host, the honorable BillChete, as they break down the third installment of the Friday the 13th series — in 3D! They will talk the poster children for Body Count Gang, Crazy Ralph’s cousin, Ginny vs. Chris, how Friday the 13th affected horror, the evolution of the Jason Voorhees character, things that must be hidden from your wife, the inner turmoil of Shelly and the Spiders!
Horror News: Ouija Board Game movie, another Child’s Play movie and horrorinc.com
I had all of these games! As a kid, of course, I had to collect every one! Super cool monster games that were shaped a bit like bowling pins. Inside these games were cardboard pieces, dice, pawns and small paper game boards, etc. I remember the best part of these games were the containers themselves. So awesome and iconic to me!
Each of these Lakeside Monster Games were completely different games from each other which is part of what made them fun and interesting. I remember they were quick and cheap toys to purchase, as they were by the registers or in bins on your way out of department stores.
These were great items for my shelf next to other monster toys. They looked great and had that fun and necessary MONSTER “IT” Factor!
“That’s why you’re dead asswipe! No brains and a big mouth!”
I was in the mood for some 80s horror this weekend (Ed Note – it’s the tryptophan) and decided to go with a favorite of my editor and it’s sequel. I was never a big fan of zombies and generally avoided all movies with the words “dead” or “living dead” in the title. After watching these movies, I am honestly sorry I did. These were some of the most fun and funny movies I have seen in quite awhile. They totally transported me back to the best decade of all time.
Return of the Living Dead was released in 1985 and its sequel in 1988. Both movies star Thom Matthews who played Tommy in Friday the 13th part 6 and James Karen who has 191 acting credits including playing Mr. Teague – the boss in Poltergeist. Return of the Living Dead features a group of partying teens and two idiot employees of a medical warehouse as the main characters. When the employees kick a drum with a corpse in it they unleash a gas that makes them fatally ill and at the same time re-animates the dead in a local cemetery. The teens who are partying in said cemetery (which by the way looks like it belongs in North Philly — one of the worst neighborhoods in the City of Philadelphia_ are now in serious jeopardy. The kids and employees of the medical warehouse eventually run into each other and fight together to save themselves from the zombies. Return of the Living Dead Part II once again stars Thom Matthews and James Karen in similar roles, this time as grave robbers. This movie was a sort of cross between Adventures in Babysitting and Night of the Living Dead. The protagonist in this film is an 11-year-old boy, Jesse, played by Michael Kenworthy. Jesse is being chased by the neighborhood bullies. These bullies find a sealed Army drum with a rotting corpse inside and proceed to open the drum releasing the same deadly gas that caused all the trouble in the original movie. The bullies and grave robbers are exposed to the deadly gas which not only re-animates the corpses in a nearby graveyard but also slowly turns them into zombies as well. The grave robbers and Jesse eventually meet up picking up a few others along the way and the whole bunch of them spend the rest of the movie trying to defeat the zombies.
These films were like a “who’s wh”o of 80s horror with Thom Matthews, James Karen, Suzanne Snyder from Night of the Creeps, Dana Ashbrook of Waxwork and Twin Peaks, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. of Friday the 13th V, Linnea Quigley of a thousand low budget 80s horror films and my personal favorite Clu Gulager who played the dad in Nightmare On Elm St 2. There was even a Michael Jackson zombie in the sequel which is what the zombies in both movies reminded me of — Thriller zombies! Since Thriller is my favorite music video of all time (Ed Note: and every other horror fan’s) this made me extremely happy. Both of these films were the perfect mix of humor, zombies, teen angst, action and for those of you who like their horror with a side of boobs — you are in luck. One female character from the first film is completely naked (Ed Note: both alive and as a zombie, but anyone who has seen any 80s horror at all already knows who was naked) for at least half of the movie. Last but not least, one of my favorite characters from both movies was Doc Mandel played hilariously by Bill Maher look-alike Philip Bruns who passed away last year with 102 acting credits.
I truly hope there are horror fans under 40 who read my blog that haven’t discovered these films yet because they are true gems.
LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING: 5 out of 5 (for both films)
Return of the Living Dead Trivia:
– Return of the Living Dead was the first movie in which zombies audibly called for “brains!”
– John Russo and George Romero parted after Night of the Living Dead, splitting copyrights. Romero was free to make his own series of sequels (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, etc.), but Russo retained the rights to any sequels with “Living Dead” in the title, thus the Return of the Living Dead franchise was born.
– Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist) was originally set to direct the first film.
– In 2011, More Brains!, a documentary about the Return of the Living Dead franchise was released on DVD
Rent Return of the Living Deadhere and Return of the Living Dead 2here.
Pamela Voorhees has been defeated, her head lobbed off at the hands of a camp counselor. Strangely enough, said counselor turned up dead just a couple of months later. Five years pass and a new group of horny teens are lurking in a camp area near the old Camp Blood Crystal Lake. Certainly the legend of Jason Voorhees stalking the woods around the campground seeking revenge for the death of his mother is just that — a legend, right? Right? Join Ron and guest host Willis Wheeler as they take matters into their own hands and explore this thing known as Friday the 13th Part 2. They will speak of run-ins with the law at strip clubs, Jason’s bathroom facilities, daisy dukes, Redneck Jason, various controversies surrounding the film, the importance of Jason Voorhees first appearance and what films could get away with in the 1980s that they can’t today.
Horror News: Release date set for second Friday the 13th reboot movie; Release date set for Universal’s reboot of The Mummy; Frank Darabont gets The Mist TV Series.
At the start of the film it seemed to be a sort of cross between The Addams Family and the Dark Shadows TV series. By the end of the film, my opinion had totally changed. Everything I thought I knew had been turned on its head. The film keeps you guessing and is a very slow burn. I wasn’t shocked by the ending but I do not believe that was what the writer intended as the story was told the way a puzzle is put together. One thing this movie absolutely was, was a coming of age story albeit a bizarre one.
I remember they were quick and cheap toys to purchase, as they were by the registers or in bins on your way out of department stores.
