Slasher movies in the early 1980s routinely got awful reviews in the mainstream press, but PIECES probably got the worst reviews by far. A shame none of them could appreciate its campy, goofy charm!
Hysteria Lives!: https://www.hysteria-lives.co.uk
I just revisited this comic good read. Micheal is really brutal in this one I’d really like to see a movie made out of this.
Harry Warden (Prime + Composite) vs.
Leatherface (2023 - Full Potential)
Specifically, do you prefer that the killer in a slasher be unknown or hard for the characters to pin down at first, like with Ghostface in Scream, or do you prefer the killer just be unambiguous and focused more on being threatening than mysterious, like Leatherface in TTCM or Jason in Friday the 13th?
As seen on Temu, you just have to laugh and they have TONS of Halloween merch and something is always a little off
I know it ain't 1981 anymore, but I do believe there's some great stuff still coming out in the subgenre and curious what some of your favorites are that I might have missed.
Driving around for work and noticed this old Jeepers Creepers looking church. Even the area looks like the long stretch of road in the movie. I booked it out of there before I could get chased down by that old, rusted Chevy truck!
I feel that Victor's design should have been a bit more "marketable" so to speak
I mean, I think terrifier for example wouldn't have the impact it had if Art didn't have the design that it has
Many discussions of the maniacs' battles suffer from the argument "they're both immortal, so neither one can win," but immortality is a very relative concept, and how does it differ for some characters?
Jason is a zombie, Michael can withstand a huge amount of damage, but if you cut off their heads, that's the end. Well, unless you count Jason's demon worm, but that's absurd.
Art the Clown rises from the dead, sure. But how long does it take? That's absolutely not an argument in battle, because it's a long process.
Many of them are dead, demons, etc., but this is not an argument in battle.
What about the others?
Friday the 13th Tales!
Just an ordinary fishing trip.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma)
Harold Finnegan was an old fisherman. He had been fishing at that lake with his father ever since he was a youngin. One day, when he was out fishing with his father, he heard what sounded like a struggle and screaming for help from across the lake. It sounded like a young boy crying out for help calling for his mother. His father tried to row the boat to where the sound was coming from, but by the time he got there, it was too late. The source of the sound was gone and neither of them were expert swimmers by any extent of the word so if there was someone drowning they couldn't jump in and save them or else they would drown too, so he rowed to the shore to try to get help at the camp.
It took them a minute to get the attention of the camp counselors, and when they told him what they heard, they did a head count of all the kids and found that one of them was missing. The one that was missing was Jason Voorhees! Upon hearing the name Harold's heart sank, he had heard tales of the young Voorhees boy, that he was deformed, that he never spoke, that he had cursed eyes that never seemed to blink, and how above All Else he had a weird aura about him that made you feel unsafe and frightened just from being near him. He himself had never seen the Voorhees boy first hand, but the story sent shivers down his spine. And he heard that the Voorhees mother was a little unusual and very overprotective of her boy. He was worried that if she found out, they heard him drowning and didn't save him that she would do something to them.
He tried to tell his father that maybe they should get out of there and let the camp handle this situation, and the father agreed because apparently he also knew about Mrs Voorhees and her unstable tendencies. They made their way back to their boat and rowed away back from where they came from.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma)
Several years later. Harold wakes up at the crack of dawn to go on his usual fishing trip. Like clockwork, he would go fishing every morning at the crack of dawn just like his father used to. He went down to the kitchen to make his morning coffee, and while that coffee brewed, he packed his tackle box with his favorite lures, hooks, and bait. He also got the laundry out of the dryer after he did laundry the night before and gave his boots a good polish right before the coffee finished brewing. Harold was a simple man; he didn't like his coffee straight black, but he didn't like anything too fancy either, just a little bit of sugar and a dab of milk was all he needed. He filled his thermos with the freshly brewed coffee, and on his way out the door, he picked up the newspaper so he could read it while out on the lake.
He then got in his 1996 Geo Metro and began to make his way to the lake. But on his way there he got a strange feeling similar to how they say a fisherman's knee will act up when there's a storm coming, but this wasn't quite that it felt like a gut feeling, a deep pit in his stomach, it felt like some greater force was trying to warn him not to go out on the lake today. But Harold was never a superstitious guy, so he just brushed that feeling off and decided to keep going. But on his way to the lake, a whole bunch of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances started driving by. Causing him to pull over, he was wondering where they were coming from and what happened.
“It looks like they're coming from the lake. I wonder what could have happened?” He acknowledged and questioned. The strange feeling in the pit of his stomach began to grow stronger, but he wrote it off and just kept going.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma)
Upon arriving at the lake and unloading his boat into the water, he noticed that the air that morning was surprisingly cold, unnaturally cold even. Sending a chill down his spine as if death itself is tickling his soul. The strange feeling in his gut is even stronger now, and he is starting to question whether or not he should go fishing this morning. But he has bills to pay. If he doesn't go fishing now, he might be a little behind on payments, so he continues to ignore the gut feeling. He gets in his boat, which, unlike the rowboat that he had with his father growing up he now has a motorboat, which costs him a pretty penny, but he thinks it's a good investment. He makes his way out, not all the way to the middle of the lake but pretty far.
As he gets to his desired point, he stops the motor and proceeds to unload his tackle box and set up his fishing rod, but he notices something is off. The gut feeling is even stronger now. He looks around to try to figure out what's wrong, and he notices something is missing. In this spot, he usually sees two houses, but one of the houses is no longer visible. Upon closer inspection he notices yellow tape along the shoreline and he figures it out, that's why the fire department was there one of the two houses must have just burned down and that's all it was he tells himself nothing more happened. Trying to rationalize the scared feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Calm down, you do this every morning. What's different? What is this weird feeling?” He asked himself, trying to calm down. He casts out his lure after putting a worm on the end of his hook and proceeds to wait.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma)
He's used to waiting hours before his first bite, so he opens up his newspaper and begins to read and casually drink his coffee as he waits. Before he reads the actual news or anything like that he first goes to the funnies and looks for Garfield his favorite, it wasn't his favorite growing up because Garfield wasn't out when he was growing up his favorite was Dennis the menace. But before he can even find Garfield, the rod starts making that telltale noise that lets you know something is biting. His bobber begins to dip underwater, and the string starts getting pulled. He quickly puts down the newspaper, grabbing his rod. It begins reeling in, and for some reason, that pit in his stomach is the strongest it's ever been. He begins trying to reel but not too fast because if he reels it into fast and the fish is a real good fighter, then the line will just break. He's got a tire the fish out first, so he reels a little and lets the fish pull a little reels a little more, lets the fish pull, Lather, rinse, repeat.
But this feels different. This feels stronger than anything he's ever caught before it feels bigger. This must be the biggest fish he's ever caught or at least hooked because he hasn't officially caught it yet. It almost feels like a full-grown man is down there. He starts to break a sweat because it feels like his usual method of reeling a little and waiting isn't enough, it feels like this fish is about to break the line but he doesn't know any other technique so he just starts reeling less and less hoping that the less he reels the less likely the line will snap. He ends up fighting this fish for about 10 minutes before he sees something big coming to the surface, the pit in his stomach is telling him to cut the line and go but he knows if he does this they're going to repo his car so he has no choice but to continue. And it finally breaks the surface, and it's a Largemouth Bass, the biggest largemouth bass he had ever seen.
He could fit his entire arm in this thing's mouth, and a fish this big will earn him so much money. The fear that has been building up all morning is replaced with excitement and joy! “Oh my God, this is my lucky break. Yes, yes! Woohoo!” He yells and cheers excitedly as he gets the fish on the boat, thinking this is the lucky break he needs. The fish begins to flop around, and he's just laughing to himself, thinking he's on top of the world. Nothing's going to get him down now.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma)
And just as his head is filling with thoughts of what he's going to do with all the money from this big fish, a nicer car possibly renovations to his house or a bigger house, getting all of his debt paid, new clothes, maybe a bigger boat, his fantasy is cut short when there's a big splash noise behind him and before he can even turn his head to see what that was he feels too big arms wrap around him and before he can scream he gets pulled into the water, and his catch flops back into the water. Immediately his mouth begins to fill with the icy cold morning lake water, he closes his mouth and begins to struggle against what feels like a big bear strengthwise holding on to him, but it doesn't feel like a bear it feels similar to a human but not quite. It feels both bony and yet also kind of slimy and sort of squishy as if it's super strong muscles but also squishy because it's kind of rotten which is confusing and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. How can something be as strong as a bear but rotten? He doesn't have time to think about how that makes sense, but at this moment however because he's fighting for his life he doesn't have time to question or try to guess what this is he needs to try to break free from its grasp and get away. He struggles trying to wiggle like a worm out of this thing's grasp but its grip is about as strong as a grizzly bear's bite, he tries punching and even kicking but it does no good, it's like punching a brick wall a squishy brick wall.
It has no effect and doesn't seem to even move it an inch, whatever it is. The more he struggles, the more bubbles slip out of his nostrils and occasionally out of his mouth despite his best efforts to keep his mouth closed. His vision, which was already dark and murky due to the water, begins to fade to Black, and he starts to slowly lose consciousness. He starts to struggle less and less. This is it, he thought, right when he makes his big break his big win this happens? This is how it ends?
He thinks to himself he's so upset that this is how it all ends, but then he gets an idea! It's an idea that's just crazy enough to work, and he has no other choice.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma)
He begins to play dead and acts like he already drowned, hoping that whatever this thing is, it lets him go. He hopes that this works and that this thing lets him go before he actually drowns. He wishes he thought of this a lot sooner before he was so close to actually drowning. But better late than never. After about 15 seconds, which feels a lot longer when you're so close to death, he thinks it may have worked because he feels one of the arms letting go and loosening. This is it, he thought, whatever this thing is is going to let me go swim away, and that will allow me to get away.
And right as he is feeling relief, he then feels a sharp pain in the pit of his gut! It feels like something is being forcefully shoved in there, something hard and jagged like a rock or an old stick! His eyes shoot open, and his mouth opens, and he tries to scream, but because he's underwater, all that does is let water in, and bubbles go out! His blood begins to feel the surrounding water and his murky mud Brown vision becomes murky red vision as his own blood fills the surrounding water. The pain precedes what feels like an eternity but is in reality only a few agonizing seconds as he begins to drown before he dies from blood loss. His vision fades, his thoughts begin to become more spaced out, and his entire life flashes before his eyes.
But at the very end, where he caught that big fish in the boat just about a couple minutes ago in his flash of memory, he noticed something he didn't notice originally. He noticed a ghostly figure at the woods line watching, it resembled a woman wearing an old blue grayish sweater, she was watching and she tilts her head and grins sadistically right when he feels the arms in his flashback grab him and pull him into the water. He recognized that figure, that was Mrs Voorhees. And if that was Mrs Voorhees, then this must be…. His very last thought as he slips into the great abyss of death is Jason Voorhees.
(Ki ki ki ki Ma ma ma ma).
July 5th is the start of spooky season and I’m kicking it off with Halloween II on CED! It’s too bad the original didn’t have a CED release.
What else is everyone watching tonight?
Just a question but who would win in a fight Leatherface or ghostface (any killer from scream 1-7)
I was 14 when Scream premiered. I didn’t think it was a bad movie. How could it be? It was directed by Wes Craven. On the other hand, I really, really dislike that the killer(s) is always just some random novice(I understand that’s the appeal to a lot of fans). It’s obviously an opinion and my personal preference, but I just prefer a supernatural, disfigured, brutish, or imposing killer. I saw the first three, trying to get into them, but I just couldn’t. The Scream franchise is overrated. And I really hate fan-based scenarios where Ghostface is pitted against characters they would have zero chance of even remotely winning against. Again, a bad series? No (At least the three I’ve seen.) I just can’t get interested in the killer(s).
This one is interesting. It’s not a good movie, and it’s got some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen. But, at the same time, there’s a charm to it.
The whole premise is entirely implausible and it requires astronomical levels of suspension of disbelief, but it’s still rather fun!