Tonight's feature is the 1971 film Willard, directed by Daniel Mann and starring Bruce Davison, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Borgnine, and Sondra Locke. It was based on the novel "Ratman's Notebooks" by Gilbert Ralston (under the pen name of Stephen Gilbert), who also wrote the screenplay.
A sequel called Ben (after one of the rats in the original) was released in 1972, and a remake of Willard, starring Crispen Glover, was released in 2003.
A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home, Ben and Socrates (and their increasing number of friends). However, when one of them is killed at work, Willard goes on a rampage using his rats to attack those who have been tormenting him.
This is the full movie, from a playlist. It hasn't been released on DVD.
Director George A. Romero's epic sequel to his legendary Night of the Living Dead has firmly established itself as the equal of its ground-breaking predecessor. Though shot in 1978 -- ten years after the first films' release -- Dawn's story begins as if the events in Night had happened only a few months before: after shambling armies of the recently-dead take over every major city -- seeking warm human flesh for food -- the U.S. government imposes a state of martial law, sending in special National Guard units to attack and destroy zombie infestation where they find it.
This is the faster-paced European/Italian version edited by overseas distributor Dario Argento. It's the full movie, from a playlist.
Tonight's feature is the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead, directed by Zack Snyder. The writers are George A. Romero (1978 screenplay) and James Gunn (screenplay).
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
It contains memorable scenes from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Lady and the Tramp," "Peter Pan," "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," and "The Sword in the Stone."
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island finds Scooby and the gang on Zombie Island, where they are menaced by the ghost of Moonscar the Pirate and the island's most infamous inhabits - Zombies!!
Last year I posted an entry about Ray Bradbury's novel "The Halloween Tree", in which eight children learn the origins of Halloween customs while trying to save the life of their friend.
Here's the movie adaptation from 1993. It won Ray Bradbury a Daytime Emmy Award in 1994 for Ouststanding Writing in an Animated Program. This is the full movie, from a playlist.
When Vincent Price was asked what he thought of the short, he said that it was "the most gratifying thing that ever happened. It was immortality - better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard."
An early form of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) can be seen in the upper-left corner of the screen at 4:45.
Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams which annoys his mother.
Tonight's feature is the silent classic Nosferatu (1922), based on the story "Dracula". It was directed by F.W. Marnau and stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok.
Thanks to the Mark H. Harris About.com Guide to Horror and Suspense, we have a recap of all the Saw movies, leading up to Saw VI which opens this weekend. Select theaters around the country will be airing a marathon of all the Saw movies tomorrow, topped off by a midnight screening of Saw VI. Visit fandango.com or movietickets.com for tickets. A list of the theaters can be found here.
If you don't mind some spoilers, here's a recap of the story up 'til now, with the trailers.
Adam and Lawrence are chained in a bathroom, victims of Jigsaw, a serial killer who puts people in deadly traps so they can appreciate life. Lawrence is told he must kill Adam by 6 o'clock; he's given a bullet for a gun held by a dead body in the center of the room, the loser of a previous "game." Lawrence's wife and daughter are held captive in their home by Zep, Lawrence's co-worker, who will kill them if the doc fails. Lawrence's family escapes with help from ex-cop David Tapp, but Zep kills Tapp and goes to the bathroom to kill Lawrence, who has sawed off his leg in order to escape. Adam kills Zep before realizing that he's a pawn; the real killer is John Kramer, the body lying in the room, who shuts Adam in the room to die.
Police find Jigsaw, but he holds them at bay with video of eight people -- including Detective Matthews' son Daniel and Amanda, the only escapee from Jigsaw's games -- trapped in a house filled with a deadly gas. The eight try to find an antidote to the gas that's locked away in a safe, most dying from traps in the process. One of the eight, Xavier, stalks Amanda and Daniel when he realizes that numbers to the safe's combination are printed on the backs of their heads, but they manage to kill him. Matthews forces Jigsaw to take him to the house but ends up chained in the Saw bathroom, discovering that the events on the video had happened way earlier and that Amanda is now Jigsaw's protege. She locks him in the bathroom to die.
Six months later, the games continue, but cops Rigg and Hoffman find that the new traps are uncharacteristically inescapable. A sick and dying John/Jigsaw has two people kidnapped: Jeff and Lynn. Jeff's test is to decide whether to save the lives of three people he blames for the death of his son (he doesn't), while Lynn has to keep John alive until Jeff is done (she does). Amanda, disillusioned by John's plan, shoots Lynn (thus failing John's test of compassion) and reveals that she set up the inescapable traps. Jeff, who turns out to be Lynn's husband, shoots Amanda and then kills John (thus failing his test of forgiveness). As the door to the room shuts, he realizes that John is the only person who knows where Jeff's daughter is hidden.
John and Amanda are dead, but there's a new killer, who kidnaps Hoffman and places him in a trap with Matthews before informing Rigg that his two colleagues will be killed in 90 minutes. However, he warns Rigg to walk away. Rigg's reckless heroism leads him through a series of tests in which he must either help or hurt people trapped in the killer's games. FBI agent Strahm, on Rigg's trail, questions John's ex-wife Jill, who reveals that he was a caring man who became cynical after a robber caused her to miscarry. Strahm tracks Rigg to a factory and encounters Jeff from Saw III, killing him in self-defense. Rigg's arrival triggers Matthews' death, with Rigg shot in the process. Hoffman reveals himself to be the killer as Rigg dies.
Hoffman places Strahm in a trap and rescues Jeff's daughter but is surprised when Strahm is found alive. Hoffman is hailed as a hero, and the police declare the killings over, but Strahm suspects of Hoffman. He discovers that Hoffman killed his sister's murderer and made it look like Jigsaw did it, incurring the wrath of John, who blackmailed him into helping with the games. Hoffman meanwhile plants clues that make Strahm's boss, Erickson, believe that Strahm is Jigsaw's accomplice, while also setting up five new victims in a trap. Strahm tracks Hoffman to a warehouse, where a recording tells him to get into a box, but instead he shoves Hoffman inside, not realizing that the room's walls will close in and crush anyone not inside the box.
Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.
The Wolfman will be released in theaters February 12th.
Set in the late 1880s, the film keeps the plotline of the original, with Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) reuniting with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins) following the disappearance of his brother. The film details events during Lawrence's past that led to his conflict with his father; and the setting is changed from the mythical Welsh village of Llanwelly to the English village of Blackmore and the city of London. The official synopsis states Talbot was traumatized by his mother's death as a child, while Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) is his brother's fiancée. Following his brother's disappearance, Talbot hunts a murderer, which turns out to be a werewolf, and the curse is passed on.
After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban "starter" tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.
Director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man and The Evil Dead Trilogy) returns to the horror genre with a vengeance in the film that critics rave is "the most crazy, fun and terrifying horror movie in years!" (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly).
... one giant leap for mankind. As I'm sure everyone knows, 40 years ago today man landed on the moon.
Here's a great site for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11: We Choose the Moon It's DEFINITELY recommended!
The First Men in the Moon (1901) is one of the most dazzling of H.G. Wells's "scientific romances," and the last of the series which began with The Time Machine. Leaving their humdrum lives in Kent, Mr. Bedford and Mr. Cavor invade the moon and are captured by the ant-like Selenites. They are forced to confront their own littleness when viewed in a cosmic perspective, and the result is a highly entertaining satire on imperialism in particular and human frailty in general.
Tonight's feature, Battle Royale, is a Japanese film based on the book by Koushun Takami. Many members of the Japanese Parliament tried to get the novel banned, but to no avail. When the film was released, they attempted to ban it also. Both efforts resulted in the novel and film becoming even more successful as people bought the book and went to the movie to see what the fuss was all about.
In a future where society is on the verge of collapse, the government takes drastic action against the problem of rebellious teenagers in this violent sci-fi opus from Japan. In the year 2002, Japan's economy has taken a dramatic turn for the worse, and massive unemployment and inflation have thrown most adults into a state of chaos; the nation's youth culture responds with unprecedented violence, delinquency, and truancy. Desperate to restore order, the Japanese parliament responds by creating the Millennial Reform School Act, in which groups of junior high students are selected at random, sent to an isolated island, and forced to play a rigorous war game, in which all but one of their number are killed. Kitano (Beat Takeshi) is an embittered school instructor who guides the 44 students of the Zentsuji Middle School's Class B through the deadly game known as "Battle Royale," as they struggle to survive against the elements and each other. Battle Royale proved to be both successful and highly controversial in Japan, where it set box-office records and prompted political leaders to call for stricter controls on violence in Japanese entertainment; the film was initially rated R-15 (no one under 15 admitted), unusual for violent films in Japan, though director Kinji Fukasaku later prepared a re-edited version that earned a more lenient classification. Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Burnt Offerings (1976) was directed by Dan Curtis and stars Karen Black and Oliver Reed as summer caretakers moving into a gothic house with their young son. The catch? The house rejuvenates a part of itself with each death that occurs on its premises.
Check out the creepy chauffeur, and beware an ending that will give you nightmares.
Tonight's feature is House of Wax (1953), directed by André De Toth and starring Vincent Price as a horribly disfigured sculptor who opens up the House of Wax in New York, using the wax-covered bodies of his victims as his displays. And he's now set his eyes on his Marie Antoinette...
Tonight's feature is House, directed by Steve Miner (the only director to direct more than one film in the Friday the 13th series). The cast includes William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, Kay Lenz, and Mary Stavin.
Roger Cobb (William Katt) is a Vietnam veteran and horror novelist. After his son Jimmy disappears while visiting his aunt, Roger's search for Jimmy ruins his marriage and writing career. After Roger's aunt suddenly dies, Cobb moves into her house to work on a novel based on his experiences in the war. As strange occurrences start happening around him, Roger becomes aware that the house is evil, not to mention ghost-infested, and it resents his presence in it. The ghosts force him to endure a journey into his past, where he ultimately finds Jimmy at the end.
BREWERBLOB, posted by Bill Brewer, is a general horror blog containing movie clips and trailers, Friday Night Frights, literature, music, art, and more.
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Last year I posted an 
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