Day 333: Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch

Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch

I don't remember Halloween being so red

The Halloween movie franchise is Michael Myers. Just like Jason in Friday The 13^th and Freddy Kruger in A Nightmare On Elm Street, it's hard to conceive of a Halloween movie without the blank-faced killer. It actually happened, though, believe it or not. The Halloween movie series was planned to produce a different horror story every year under the Halloween name. Michael Myers was never really supposed to be the face of the franchise. The idea wasn't a terrible one in theory as it would keep the franchise from being boring and predictable. It only happened once though. Could the non-Michael Myers Halloween be that bad as to completely throw out the original plan and go back to the slasher well?

Halloween 3 is a science-fiction horror movie starring Tom Atkins (Maniac Cop, Night Of The Creeps) as Dr. Dan Challis. On October 23^rd, store owner Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry, Re-Animator, The Last Starfighter) is chased down and attacked by mysterious men in suits. He collapses at a gas station , is taken to a hospital, and placed in the care of Dr. Dan Challis. Dan notices that Harry is clutching a jack-o'-lantern mask from the Silver Shamrock toy company. Commercials for the masks have been playing nonstop, advertising some sort of raffle on Halloween night for anyone who purchases a mask. Even Dan's children have the masks. Another man in a suit finds Grimbridge in the hospital and kills him before blowing himself up in the hospital parking lot. Bothered by the incident, Dan begins to investigate the incident with Grimbridge's daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin, Bullets Over Broadway, The Twilight Zone). They travel to the small town of Santa Mira, home of the Silver Shamrock company. The town is practically abandoned other than the factory and it's workers. One night in their motel, a saleswoman for Silver Shamrock notices a small chip that falls off a mask. The chip shoots a laser into her face, burning her horribly and releasing bugs from her mouth. Dan and Ellie, who slept together the night before, receive a tour of the factory from the owner, Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy, Robocop, Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe). Dan sees the men in suits near the factory and also notices Cochran's secretive “finishing” process for the masks. What does Conal Cochran have planned with his killer masks and will Dan be able to stop him in time?

"No, I'm not happy with my long-distance rates!"

Well, this is a pretty huge departure from the first two Halloween movies. And I mean that in more ways than one. Gone is the slasher theme, the large amount of gore and violence, the pacing, the fear, and just about everything that made the first two Halloween movies so good. I understand the desire to separate the third movie and I don't really have a problem with wanting to do something different. I have a problem with a story that is so convoluted it makes my head hurt. It's as if three or four different horror movies were blended together and someone forgot to have things make sense. I thought the movie was going to be something about supernatural masks that kill the wearers, but instead we have a goofy sci-fi plot with some magic thrown in for the hell of it. Cochran's plan is as confusing as it is silly. I still have no idea why the men in suits were needed in the movie, adding a strange and unnecessary subplot.

The first two Halloween movies had a lot of suspense and plenty of fears. Halloween 3 has neither. The middle is incredibly slow and devoid of atmosphere. There isn't much in the way of scares either. The movie is strictly by-the-numbers and, if not for the Halloween name, would probably have been lost to the campy 80's horror dustbin a long time ago. Co-writer John Carpenter manages to get in plenty of social commentary, taking shots at commercialism, consumerism, and marketing. It's good commentary that makes sense, though it comes wrapped in the extremely annoying theme music for Silver Shamrock's commercial. The acting is ok, but nothing special. Tom Atkins plays his usual tough and gruff self, which would have been fine if his character was a police officer or investigator. Instead, he's a doctor, but never really acts like it. The one truly good thing the movie does is the ending. I don't think I've seen a movie where I hated 99% of it, but loved the last 20 seconds. Those last 20 seconds were everything the movie wasn't. It was intense to the point where I was literally leaning forward in anticipation.

This calls for Green Jelly's "Rock And Roll Pumpkin"

Switching things up in Halloween may have been full of good intentions, but it ended up damaging the franchise to the point where they decided to just stick with Michael Myers. Halloween 3 did poorly at the box office and for good reason. The movie is simply not good. The story is all over the place, a hodge-podge of different ideas that don't work. There isn't a lot of action and almost no suspense or fear. The social commentary is good, but heavy at times. The movie isn't a total loss as the masks are cool to look at and the ending is intense. Sometimes it's good to mix things up, keeping a franchise fresh and interesting. Of course, having a good story helps.

3.5/10

Day 191: Magic

Magic

What beautiful, unblinking, uncaring, unloving blue eyes

Ventriloquism, with the exception of “comedian” Jeff Dunham, has not been popular in mainstream culture since the 1950's and 1960's. Despite it's fade from the spotlight, ventriloquism and ventriloquist dummies have managed to find a place in horror movies. We've seen them used in movies such as Dead Silence, The Great Gabbo, and The Dummy episode from The Twilight Zone. Maybe it's the emotionless faces or the child-like bodies, but these dummies has an unmistakable creepiness to them making them perfect villains for horror. They are a relatively cheap to make and effective in making audiences uneasy. What makes these movies work, though, is a solid story and a good cast and who is a better than Sir Anthony Hopkins?

Magic is a 1978 psychological horror movie starring Anthony Hopkins (Silence Of The Lambs, Amistad) as Charles “Corky” Withers, based on the novel of the same name by William Goldman. Corky is a magician's apprentice who bombs in his first attempt performing in front of a live audience. His mentor tells him that he lacks personality and needs to gain one in order to succeed. Flash forward a year and Corky's act is a smash hit, thanks to the inclusion of a foul-mouthed ventriloquist dummy named Fats. His act has gained the attention of powerful agent Ben Green (Burgess Meredith, Rocky, The Twilight Zone). Ben is on the verge of procuring Corky a television show when he informs Corky that he must take a medical exam before the television company agrees to the deal. Corky refuses, basing his decision on principal, and flees to the Catskills in upstate New York. He reunites with his high school crush, Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margaret, Bye, Bye, Birdie, Tommy). Corky and Fats charm Peggy, who is unhappy with her marriage to her husband, Duke (Ed Lauter, Cujo, Youngblood). He even performs a card trick that leads Peggy to believe that they have a psychic and spiritual connection. They consummate their reconnection that sparks jealousy in Fats when Corky is alone with him. Ben is able to track down Corky and finds him arguing with Fats. He asks Corky if he can go five minutes without speaking as Fats. He is unable and Ben leaves, vowing to get Corky help for his mental problems. In a fit of rage, Fats convinces Corky to kill Ben. Corky smashes him in the head with Fats and swims out to the middle of a lake to hide the body. The next morning, Fats's jealousy grows even larger when Corky mentions running away with Peggy. Duke arrives back home and suspects that Peggy has slept with Corky. He takes Corky out on a boat to question him when they discover Ben's body on shore. With help from Corky, Fats stabs Duke to death. With “Fats” now calling the shots, what will happen to Corky and Peggy?

"I can't believe that guy is wearing the same sweater!"

Most horror movies involving ventriloquist dummies focus on supernatural elements to turn the dolls into killers. Magic goes the psychological route, with Corky being “controlled” by his Fats personality. Modern audiences would recognize the arguments between Corky and Fats in scenes involving Gollum's inner turmoil from The Lord of the Rings. The move itself is not scary in the sense that you will jump out of your seat or hide under the covers. The movie has an underlying creepiness the grows as Corky's mind begins to fall apart while Fats takes over. The story is pretty straight-forward, but still intriguing, sucking the audience into a movie where a dummy is a main character. The ending is particularly heart-breaking, but fits in well with the movie's overall sadness.

The movie is effective because of the strong performances of Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margaret. Their relationship on screen is very believable which makes the rest of the movie believable. Burgess Meredith is great as Agent Ben Greene and is most identifiable with the audience. Along with Ben, we see Corky's potential and then discover his scary mental state. Hopkins's Corky is stiff and nervous which plays well against the loose and dirty Corky. It's also nice to see a younger Hopkins at work. His split-personality is the real villain of the movie and his interaction with Fats provides more cerebral action than most horror movies. Those who want lots of action and blood will have to find it elsewhere, because Magic just isn't that type of movie.

Three is the "Magic" number

Doll and dummy horror movies are nothing new. While most focus on killer dolls stabbing and tripping human victims, Magic is a psychological trip into a fragile and broken mind. We feel for Corky and want him to succeed, but we know that he cannot. Performances by Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margaret really make the movie work and bring an emotional authenticity not seen in a lot of horror. The movie lacks in action and violence, but it is thrilling and creepy nonetheless. If you like your horror movies smart and cerebral, you'll enjoy Magic.

7/10

Day 185: Night Of The Scarecrow

Night Of The Scarecrow

Give me a "hand" haha. Seriously, help me.

Horror is full of monsters, demons, aliens, and all sorts of evil creatures taken from the deepest, darkest recesses of the human mind. We have the classic menagerie of evil with vampires, werewolves, zombies, Frankenstein monsters, and mummies. In the 70's and 80's, we saw the rise of the slasher and supernatural killer. We've even seen multiples movies involving giant animals and mythological creatures. One monster that has made an occasional, but rare appearance is the scarecrow. Are people actually afraid of scarecrows? Are crows actually afraid of scarecrows? I know I'm not, but done correctly, I guess they could be scarely. Done incorrectly, they're just hunks of straw murdering people.

Night Of The Scarecrow is a 1995 horror movie starring Elizabeth Barondes (ER, Lois & Clark) as Claire Goodman and John Mese (Profiler, American Gothic) as Dillon. Claire has just returned to her small town where her father William is the mayor. She flirts with Dillon and invites him to dinner, much to her father's disapproval. After dinner, Dillon and Claire go to a bar, where Dillon has an altercation with a local named Danny (John Hawkes, Deadwood, Identity). A drunken Danny decides to take revenge on Dillon by taking his farm equipment and driving it through a corn field. He unwittingly crushes a stone and releases the spirit of a warlock, which possesses a scarecrow. The scarecrow goes around town murdering people, including relatives of Claire. Her uncle, Father Thaddeus, explains that when the town was settled, crops would not grown and the town was in trouble. A mysterious man arrived, through magic, was able to help the crops grow and the town flourish. He began to exert his power over the town by having crazy orgies. The town poisoned the warlock and used his own magic to trap his spirit in the stone that had been smashed. Now he is looking for revenge on the descendants of those who wronged him and to reincarnate himself. Will Claire and Dillon be able to stop this pile of magical straw?

Which way to the next Batman movie?

When a movie involves a killer scarecrow, you can't expect much. The movie tries to explain things, but gives up about halfway in hopes that the audience will be dazzled with scarecrow murder. When the plot of your story is “Warlock becomes scarecrow,” you focus more on killing and violence. Everything that occurs in the movie is very convenient and the ending is extremely predictable. It takes far to long to explain what is happening, and by the time they get around to it, you don't really care. The movie focuses on a wide variety of violence with some decent blood. It has your standard hacking and slashing, but when magic becomes involved, things start to get laughably weird. Making straw pour out of someones body is kind of funny, but it just looks so bad. I don't even think CGI and computer graphics can make something like that work. There is one scene where Claire's cousin is raped by the scarecrow. It's very uncomfortable to watch and then to see her body “explode” with straw/tentacles and it really adds nothing to the movie.

The movie is wonderfully early 90's. The clothes, hair, and quality of film makes me want to drink Surge and listen to Helmet. Elizabeth Barondes and John Mese put on passable performances, but it's far more enjoyable watching future stars, like John Hawkes and Stephen Root (Dodgeball, Newsradio) outshine the lead actors. The scarecrow itself actually looks half decent, though not scary at all. They tried to alter it's voice to make the creature more supernatural, but it just sounds like Venom from the mid-90's Spider-Man cartoon. The effects are mediocre, but not to the point where you can "see the strings," if you know what I mean.

Tentacles. Why is it always tentacles?

Night Of The Scarecrow is best watched with a group of friends late at night, possibly after some drinks. It's a fun watch in a terrible sort of way. The concept is silly and it's not very scary. There are some good killing scenes and some unintentionally hilarious ones. The orgy scene probably scarred me for life because the adult content and nudity involved people who should never be seen naked and bumping and grinding. The acting is decent with better performances coming from the supporting cast. The story is pretty weak, but you might get a kick out of watching it. Scarecrows still aren't scary and I don't know if they'll ever be,

4/10