Catching Up

From Trish, and way late considering that this was probably supposed to be Halloween-themed. Oh well.

The rules are that you Bold those you’ve seen.
Italicize movies you have started but couldn’t finish.
Add an asterisk* to those you have watched more than once.

The Shining* - I read the book and loved it long before I ever saw the movie. As such, the first time I saw the movie I was unhappy. But i got over it. This is a 100% classic.

The Exorcist* - For my me this is one of the scariest movies ever made, and a good lesson in how it's not good effects or gross-out stuff that makes a great scary movie because, while this movie has both, the effects are so comically bad that they don't work for the most part. Also, not the kind of movie you sit and watch and scream during, but the kind of movie that you won't sleep very well after seeing. I was in college when they re-released this in theatres, and I went with some friends who had never seen it. They were so freaked out that I ended up having to stay and sleep on the floor in their room because they didn't want to be left alone (because, what, I'm going to protect them from Satan?), and they left the lights on all night, too. That's a good scary movie right there.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre -This is OK in and of itself but to the extent that it has inspired slasher flicks and, even worse, Rob Zombie, i find it hard to have positive feelings about it. But what a great poster this flick had. "Who will survive and what will be left of them?" That's great.

The Silence of the Lambs* - This is a very good movie, but I've never really seen it as a horror movie.

Jaws - I know, i know, start the outrage. It's not that I started it and couldn't finish it; I've just seen parts, maybe even the whole movie, but not in sequence and/or all at once.

Halloween - I don't much like the original but it's certainly light years better than the remake.

Psycho - Hitchcock has a lot of far better movies, and ones that don't suffer so much for their age.

Seven* - I rented this one night in high school when my parents were out of town and I was (duh) home alone. Bad idea. There was also a huge thunderstorm going on outside while I watched it. Freaky. But one of my favorite movies. I'd say it's one of the best movies made in the past 10 years ... except I'm thinking it might be older than that now. And that makes me feel old.

Rosemary’s Baby - No interest in seeing it, either. One of those where I have pretty much taken in the story via social osmosis anyway,

Poltergeist - Again, I've seen parts of it recently, but if I ever saw the whole thing when I was younger then I don't remember it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street -I think the first and only time I saw it was at a sleep-over back in elementary school. I have never been interested in this series.

Friday the 13th - Pretty much same as above.

The Thing - Never seen it, not interested.

The Evil Dead* - I'm the kind of person that "cult movies" generally appeal to, but this one doesn't. I've seen it twice because they did a midnight showing of it at Gallagher when I was in college and I went, hoping to "get it." I didn't.

Carrie - Probably the only time I saw it was ... junior high, maybe? I know I'm generally anti-this kind of statement but, given how short and good the novel is, there's no reason the movie should be so inferior to the book.

Night of the Living Dead - The first horror movie I ever saw. When I was growing up, there was a high school-aged kid who lived across the street who sometimes played basketball with me. He invited me over one time and I watched this with he and his family. My mom was pissed when she found out, but this movie really isn't good enough to be scared by.

The Omen - never seen the original.

An American Werewolf in London - Never seen it.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - Never heard of this movie.

The Hitcher - Never seen the original. Diana watched the remake one evening while I napped because I had a headache. I heard the remake had a DMB song in it, though.

The Blair Witch Project - This movie scared the hell out of me not because it had any aura of "real"-ness around it; that always seemed like pure propaganda to me. But it did a very nice job of creating that effect, so I applaud it for that. The reason it scared me is because I have been lost in the woods before; it's amazing how easy it is to get a few feet off a trail and suddenly feel like you have no idea where you are and have no idea how to get back to where you need to be. That's a horrible feeling and this movie had me full of it the entire time I was watching it. Haven't seen it (all the way through anyway) since that first time in the theater, when it was brand new.

Pet Cemetery - Never seen it, never read the book. I think I may have seen the end of this once on TV, actually.

Saw - A clever idea for a movie ruined by the (now thankfully dying) more gore aesthetic that came over horror movies this decade. Gross things aren't scary, they're just gross. That and Cary Elwes' final scene ruined this one.

The Ring* - I imagine with any horror movie hype can really kill the experience. Diana and I saw this at a sneak preview, without really knowing anything about it. Scared the hell out of both of us. She can tell you all kinds of embarrassing stories about just how much it scared me.

Scream* - I have mixed feelings. I don't like the slasher sub-genre at all, so to the extent that this movie is part of that (and even more so to the extent that it re-invigorated the genre) I disdain it. But, as my dear wife is so fond of pointing out, it's also a very clever movie. It's not quite a spoof, but it winks so often that I found it funny (and this is good because the reason i don't like slasher flicks is that they're almost never scary). So, to the extent that it's a movie-about-movies, I liked it.

Drink to Chuck's health

(I know this is a pretty random way to come back after months away.)

Further proof that Charles Dickens was the greatest novelist ever. "Without doubt the most Christmassy classic author, Dickens is also literature's best source of winter cocktails."

I've always wondered what wassail is; sounds pretty darn good.