Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film

[RJDiogenes]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

I never cared for the Halloween movies, but I did like the first Nightmare On Elm Street a lot. I found it very groundbreaking at the time.

I'm about a hundred pages into World War Z and it's very impressive. Not only does the History-book format give verisimilitude to the Zombie Apocalypse, but the thing is loaded with satire. Governments and lifestyles and cultures, both foreign and domestic, are being lambasted without mercy. Best of all, the satire doesn't come at the expense of the story; the horror and tragedy are portrayed with sympathy and depth. Very good book, so far.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Watched The Devil Bat with Bela Lugosi last night.

On the other hand, I gave up on Dead Men Walk with George Zucco as twin brothers, one of whom is a vampire. Talk about interminable! I'm a person whom almost always feels compelled to watch a movie to the end, no matter how bad it is, and even I eventually decided that life was too short to keep watching Dead Men Walk . . . . .

 

[Sindatur]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Watched The Devil Bat with Bela Lugosi last night.

On the other hand, I gave up on Dead Men Walk with George Zucco as twin brothers, one of whom is a vampire. Talk about the interminable! I'm a person whom almost always feels compelled to watch a movie to the end, no matter how bad it is, and even I eventually decided that life was too short to keep watching Dead Men Walk . . . . .

Heh, I'm pretty much the same, no matter how bad a movie is, once I get halfway through it, I feel compelled to suffer through the rest of it. Very few movies I've actually turned off before they ended because they were bad (Now, that doesn't mean I've never glazed out while watching something to the end and couldn't remember what I just watched)

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Crap. I wish I had taped Devil Bat. I could have sworn I had it on DVD, but what I have is The Bat. I'll have to check now to see if Devil Bat is available....

 

[Snowgoon Spiff]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

I think The Devil Bat is in the public domain.

Edit: Yep. You can download it from that link in various formats. It also appears on a lot of those "50 Horror Classics"-style public domain sets.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Aha. Then maybe that's where I've seen it. I have several of those sets.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

I just found out about this. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do much with it this year because of little bro's wedding that weekend, but it's a nice idea for a new tradition; I'll be getting behind it next year.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

This year I'm taking Halloween as an opportunity for some piecemeal horror rereading, which I don't usually get around to because I'm always buying new stuff that takes priority. I went through my books, made a list of favorite authors, and selected stories that I wanted to have another look at. And, just to give the list an order, I arranged it chronologically. So this is what I'm reading tomorrow night.

H. P. Lovecraft: “The Festival”
Walter de la Mare: “A Recluse”
M. R. James: “A Vignette"
Sarban: “The Sacrifice”
Robert Aickman: “The Hospice”
T. E. D. Klein: “Petey”
Ramsey Campbell: “The Voice of the Beach”
Thomas Ligotti: “Conversations in a Dead Language”
Steve Rasnic Tem: “Charlie Goode’s Ghosts”
Glen Hirshberg: “Struwwelpeter”
Mark Samuels: “The Impasse”
Reggie Oliver: “The Babe of the Abyss”
R. B. Russell: “Llanfihangel”
Stephen King: “N.”
Caitlin R. Kiernan: “Pickman’s Other Model (1929)”
Quentin S. Crisp: “Ynys-y-Plag”

I'll also be watching the original Halloween on Blu-ray and, for the kid in me, the Dr. Seuss animated special Halloween is Grinch Night.

Lately I've been watching movies from the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series, because sometimes there's nothing like a bad slasher flick, and once in a while they even make a good one.

 

[sidious618]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

I watched The Shining which was, of course, fantastic. I recorded to classic horror films last night which I've not seen: Cat People and The Uninvited. Which should I watch first?

 

[Snowgoon Spiff]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Both are great movies, but I'd say Cat People nudges out The Uninvited slightly. I really enjoy all of the Val Lewton movies.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

I saw The Uninvited for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Very moody. I liked it a lot. And young Ray Milland was cool.

So far in my Halloween Marathon, I've watched Mad Monster Party and (on On Demand) Evil of Frankenstein and King of the Zombies, the latter of which was interesting because of superficial similarities to another movie script of the same name. KOTZ was also kind of interesting because it included one of those comedic Black stereotypes that was common at the time, yet he was included as part of the main cast with the two other men, was treated with respect and was integral to the plot because he was able to fight off the zombie spell. I want to add that one to my DVD collection.

In the world of books, I finished World War Z a while back and now I'm reading an anthology called The Nyarlathotep Cycle, which was some groovy vintage stuff (I'm reading the Robert Bloch story at the moment). It's a great book, but the tiny print is killing my eyes. WWZ, by the way, totally exceeded my expectations; it's a fantastic book.

Brendan, that looks like a good list. I'm intrigued by "Pickman's Other Model," as "Pickman's Model" is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. I think seeing it on Night Gallery back in the day was what started me on reading Lovecraft.

I've got some time off from work this week, so my Marathon will continue until my eyes look like fried eggs, as Harlan Ellison would say. I think The Gorgon is on TCM today. I'm pretty sure I've only seen the end of that one, so I want to check it out.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Reading Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, and a collection of MR James stories (which I also need to do for work)

Over the weekend watched:

A bunch of Munsters episodes (Far Out Munsters, BTW, is by far the worst in the series)

Omen IV: The Awakening, cos it was in the Pentalogy set which I've had for a couple of years and I'd never watched it (having stopped with the original Trilogy. It was fucking awful. Came over like somebody had had an idea for a horror flick based on a medical quirk, which could have been interesting, but then decided to tie it in to the Omen films and do it all on the cheap even by TV movie standards... (Having said that, I don't have a problem with the little girl that everyone finds so annoying - she's *supposed* to be annoying, and so is doing it right.)

The Omen (2006) - not bad, but I prefer the original. Liev Schrieber is more naturalistic than Gregory Peck, though.

Ghostwatch - also for professional reasons, and nostalgia. It still holds up, and in fact my wife Lesley got so into it that she wanted to call into the programme... I had to remind her about two-thirds through that it was a) not real, and b) 19 years ago!

Sapphire & Steel story 4 - the one with the photographs. This should really be remade, as the implications in our modern CCTV and phone-camera obsessed society would be even scarier.

Dunno what to watch today/tonight- probably the Dr Who story The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, and a movie or two.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Been binging on old horror movies myself. Last night was The Black Room with Boris Karloff.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Today was great. The Gorgon was only the start of an all-day Hammer Marathon on TCM, and I was in the mood for some Hammer this year (not that I will neglect my Universals). Two Draculas were followed by two Frankensteins and right now they are showing a couple of Mummies; I'm taping those for later.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Decided to finish off Halloween and enter November with the DW story The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit...

 

[Set Harth]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Pay It Forward.

Scary.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

The Trick-or-Treaters have come and gone. Time to settle down in front of the tube. The Gorgon or Halloween: H20?

Decision, decisions . . . .

 

[Distorted Humor]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

Deciding between Alien or the 1973 version of "The Wicker Man"

 

[Mike Farley]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

While it's not really a horror flick, I'll be celebrating Halloween with a screening of GHOSTBUSTERS at the local cineplex.

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: Hallowe'en Reading and Viewing - 2011

I watched Scream, Trick 'r Treat, and Corpse Bride today. Good times.