Thursday, October 2, 2014

October Horror Movie Challenge- Day 1


Day one began at midnight, and it started off weird with Night Of A Thousand Cats (1972). This movie concerns a wealthy man who lives in an old monastery with his manservant and a pit full of cats, roughly a thousand of them. He very conspicuously stalks women in the nearby town in a helicopter, then seduces them and lures them back to his monastery. There, he kills them, adds their heads to his collection of taxidermied heads in glass cases, and feeds their remains to his cats or eats them himself. Apparently the American version of this film runs 30 minutes shorter than the unedited Mexican version. The rest of the movie didn't motivate me to track down that extra 30 minutes, but I would be curious to see what it contained. While not especially good, Night Of A Thousand Cats was certainly an interesting way to begin the month. 5 1/2 out of 12 beers.







It was getting late, but I was still up for another movie so I popped in Kids Go To The Woods... Kids Get Dead (2009). This horror/comedy's plot is pretty typical of your average slasher; a group of teenagers go out camping to celebrate a birthday and get knocked off by a masked killer. Although the acting is not great, it's played straight enough not to become a parody and it works for what it is. Although I usually enjoy a little breaking of the fourth wall, this movie goes a bit far with an irritating late-night TV host, commercials, and effects that are supposed to simulate fast-forwarding a tape. These interruptions just didn't work for me, and only served to drag out a movie that already felt longer than it should. Kids Get Dead is a movie that has it's heart in the right place, but just doesn't work the way it should. 5 out of 12 beers.








After a good sleep, I started the day with The Twilight People (1972). It's essentially The Island Of Dr. Moreau by way of Roger Corman. It also features Pam Grier as 'the panther woman', which I'm sure is her proudest moment. The effects, although they look cheap, are oddly fascinating. Especially the ones involving the bat man. The Twilight People is a bit slow at parts, but all around is a pretty fun movie. 8 out of 12 beers.



Next up was Scream Bloody Murder (2003). This horror/comedy concerns a group of girls' school students whose van, on their way to a dance, breaks down. A suspicious-looking tow-truck driver picks them up and takes them and their van back to his "spooky junkyard" where they are picked off one by one by an unknown killer. This one didn't really work for me. None of the characters are especially likable and the movie takes way too long getting to a completely stupid and nonsensical ending. 3 out of 12 beers.











Finally after a night of fun at The Found Footage Festival, I came back and ended the day with Strange Behavior (1981). Definitely the best movie of the day, Strange Behavior reminded me a lot of 1998's Disturbing Behavior which I'm hesitant to admit I actually enjoyed quite a bit. The plot concerns the town of Galesburg, Illinois, in which a series of mysterious murders are occurring. A local policeman investigating the killings discovers an intricate plot involving revenge, mind control, and the town's local youth. This was intended to be the first movie of a trilogy and was followed by 1983's Strange Invaders which I vaguely remember watching on TV as a kid and may have to revisit. It gets a bit slow at times, but Strange Behavior is definitely worth checking out if only because it's, well... strange. 9 out of 12 beers.


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