the Villain's Halloween Marathon
 

Inspired by ChronoGrl's plan and format for her marathon I've decided to do away with my exhausting 31 movies marathon for every day of October and do seven weeks with three movies a week like her plan. Mine just isn't as ambitious. I'll just be posting the movies I'm watching and everyone can join in the discussion afterwards.

First up:

Poltergeist Week
Poltergeist 1,2,3

Starting this weekend, at some point I'll be watching all three of these movies. This weeks really for my wife who will be watching with me. She's not a fan of horror but she likes these movies so I thought it would be a good place to start.

If they're available on YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu, I'll be able to join you.

Cool. Hope you can.

I can only find Poltergeist streaming ::sad::

That sucks. Have you ever seen the others?

I've seen them and will be happy to put in my two cent's worth when the time comes.

I've seen the second one, never saw the third one.

Awesome. I'm eager to hear your input

Neither have I. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the other two

Enjoy, Villain. Might I recommend Garfield's Halloween Adventure for the little villain?

That was supposed to be our secret :shocked:

Haha that's a great idea

First Night of Poltergeist Week

Poltergeist
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...psjc0gz73g.jpg

I love this movie. I've seen it a ton of times but still enjoy watching it. Good story, great acting, and lots of scary scenes. The parts with the clown and the tree always scared me as a kid. One of the best haunted house/ghost movies there is.

9/10

Next up:

Poltergeist 2

Poltergeist is one of the best horror films of all-time. Once in a blue moon, when you combine two great tastes - like Toby Hooper and Spielberg, you get the best of both worlds. (or you get the worst of the other-world, if you like puns)

Polt is a film I could watch many times, too. The clown scene is one of the scariest on film.

Poltergeist is still one of my favorites. Love everything about it. I think casting Craig T. Nelson as the father was perfect.

While there were parts of the movie I enjoyed(the tree,the clown,the toy phone), I didn't really care for Poltergeist.

The medium Tangina irritated me to no end. The child actors stole the show and I found the movie dragged on a bit.

I know I'm in the minority but there you have it! ::cool::

Wow, it's been a long time since I've sat down and watched all 3 movies.

I won't get a chance this weekend but maybe next week I"ll try to catch one of them along with a Frankenstein movie for Chrono's Marathon.

I agree. He was a great choice and did an excellent job

They made for a great pairing although I've heard Spielberg was more in charge than Hooper.

I respect your opinion but disagree about Tangina. I thought her character was great. Creepy and otherworldly. The perfect character to show up and help them.

Hope to hear what you think.

What did you think of the chairs in the kitchen scene?

Tangina was irritating, but I began loving her two seconds into her first appearance. And one of the 'fun' bombs to drop at this point is to say: I think she was intended to annoy audiences. Was it the constricted high pitch voice, accent, her size, gender, weight, attractiveness level, her confidence and authority, apparent defensive smugness, her message bearing any apparent incongruity with 'Judeo-Christian' thought of the spiritual world?

I'd give Poltergeist a 9.5/10, and instead of citing all that's great about it, I'll mention the two negatives. Firstly, it's excessively expository. The family members are all shallow (not worthless) characters that don't require much exposition to fully understand. Secondly, the film panders to the audience by creating too many cute moments. For example, the sliding of the girl in the kitchen would have been more effectively "cute" if it hadn't been preceded by numerous other oh-so precious moments.

Regarding the upcoming sequel (apparently, it's not a remake), I am looking forward to seeing Sam Rockwell in father role.

Makes me giggle every. single. time. ::stick out tongue::::big grin::

Oh, Man - Poltergeist has always been one of my favorite horror movies - Thanks for letting me know that it's on Netflix. I'll have to rewatch it some time between my Frankenstein viewings.

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but the scene that absolutely sticks in my mind is when one of the guys looks in the mirror and his face starts melting off - I've had nightmares like that and sometimes when I look at mirrors in the dark I have a flash of fear that it's going to happen to me too...

Also, the clown, of course. Because, clowns. ::EEK!::

I haven't seen either of the sequels, so I'm interested to hear what you guys think. I'm under the impression that they're not that great so I've avoided them.

Well, wait a minute...nope, still irritating! ::wink::

Well, my brother from another mother::wink::, I found the chair scene a little lame and the mother's reaction a bit too "mystical" and "accepting". I would have had myself and my child on the next bus to anywhere.

I know what you mean and agree about too many "cute moments". But the same thing was done in "E.T." and I think its basically to soften the blows and make both subjects a bit more mainstream and family-friendly.

(Shoot, so sorry V, I've done it again with back-to-backs)

Hard to argue with that. Most people would be out the door, not sending their precious six-year-old daughter to take a ride on the other-world kinesis train with a helmet.

But like with the story troupes of people playfully messing with ouija boards and getting an evil guest, they take the slip-n-slide.

On a related note, the correct response isn't fear, but discernment.

Speilberg did it to obtain a PG rating. It hurts the flow of the film.

Poltergeist 2
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3gmg9ndf.jpg

Though not as good as its predecessor and nowhere near as iconic, its not a bad follow up. The original cast is back sans Dominique Dunne (Dana Freeling) who was strangled to death by her boyfriend around the time the original came out.

The movie isn't as creepy and has too many silly moments, it even ends on one, but it manages to deliver an interesting story and I respect that they tried to change it up instead of just redoing the same thing over again.

It answers some questions posed by the original one as well but one could argue that no one was really asking those questions.

One highlight was Julian Beck who played the sinister Reverend Kane. I don't think this series really needed to humanize the villain or bind it in one singular entity but he was a great villain. Sadly Julian Beck died during the filming of this movie.

Overall its got its pros and cons but its enjoyable.

6/10

Gah! Poltergeist should hopefully be coming in the mail for me tomorrow or Thursday. I need to rewatch it and THEN watch Part II before reading your review!

Well hurry up! ::wink::

Gonna try and watch Bride of Frankenstein soon so I can share my thoughts on your thread

Poltergeist 3
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...psqtwiz85a.jpg

First thing I have to say is this felt completely different from the other two and not in a good way. It was like watching something unconnected to the series. Except for Heather O'Rourke (Who sadly died shortly after making this film) and Zelda Rubenstein, the original cast was gone and sorely missed especially Craig T. Nelson whose behavior and mannerisms were alwats entertaining. Tom Skerrit was his replacement and he was trying way to hard. The same can be said from Nancy Allen who replaced JoBeth Williams (In a different character of course.) Her character was unbearable. The worst character though was Dr. Seaton who was incredibly stupid and annoying.

The acting was terrible, the dialogue was excruciating and the scary parts were too over the top. The mirror effects were pretty cool though and the storyline wasn't so bad that I couldn't focus. I did find myself interested to see how it ended even though it fell flat at the end. The worst in the trilogy.

5/10

Coming up next I'll have the next theme and three movies of the week.

I'm thinking I should be happy I haven't seen the third one!

I recall the psychiatrist making absurd excuses for the spiritual phenomena. His presence alone slowed the proceedings. I still find much of Pt. 3 effectively scary, probably because I have feared the idea of being trapped in a skyscraper since years before 9/11.

Yeah Its not one you need to see

Yeah his mass hypnosis thing was the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Some elements were effective. It could've been better though.

And now the next week is......





Every horror fan has a subgenre that they call their own, a personal favorite that they feel strongly about. For me, it's giant monster movies. With that, here are the three movies i will be watching for this week:




http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps46f71177.jpg http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps98786dae.jpg http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7a440c28.jpg

Hope everyone can watch as well and share your thoughts. I'll be sharing mine as i watch them.

Great selection! Love them all!!::cool::

Tremors is great.

Beast, I am yet to see and will give it a go.

Troll Hunter, I refuse to watch.

One of the best modern-era films. Those who haven't seen it yet are missing out on a great piece of cinema.

I do too.

Definitely check out Beast.

Why won't you watch Trollhunter?

Agreed. Its one of my favorite movies of all time

I detest pseudo-documentaries. ::big grin:: Leslie Vernon is the only one I found palatable, probably because its final act ditches the gimmick and affords a nice contrast to it.