Off the Trail and Dead in the Woods.

As I left the house this morning I looked up to see an enormous black crow flying overhead. Then I looked in the backyard and saw this:

Okay, it wasn't quite that, but there was a murder of at least a dozen giant Ann Arbor crows picking apart the remains of a human corpse. Or maybe it was a garbage bag. Either way, There's a storm coming!

With Halloween in 2 days and the election a week away it's time I admit failure in my grand scheme to bounce through October blogging like ghostbusters...er, gangbusters? The distraction of the Detroit Tigers' exciting yet ill-fated run to the World Series is much to blame. Anyway, here's my attempt to quickly shore up the rest of my intent and give you an overview of what I did manage to see, and some of the other films I wanted to write about in depth.

(I did make the effort to check out Paul Thomas Anderson's new one, The Master, but since it's prime Oscar bait and not pertinent to the Halloween theme I'll save that for another time.)

After good luck with Slither and The Host I ran into a stinker with Rubber (Dir. Quentin Dupieux, 2010). I was drawn to the wild plot description about a lone abandoned tire coming to life in the desert, gaining telekinetic powers, and going on a kill crazy rampage. There are some fun parts and cool effects, but the winking self-consciousness of the audience within the movie and the breaking-the-fourth-wall stuff came off extremely stilted, and some scenes drag on for far too long with no forward movement. Ultimately, Rubber blew a flat.

On the other hand, my other random-pickup-and-let's-have-a-looksee was pretty enjoyable. The Eye (Gin gwai) (Dir. by the Pang Brothers, 2002) A blind girl gets a cornea transplant, but as she starts to adjust to having sight she starts having malevolent visions. This one was a lot more enjoyable, with some truly creepy scenes, and a couple of legit jump-out-of-your-seat moments. There is some hokeyness to the doctor/patient love story, and you have to put on your reading glasses, but like so many other great, original Asian nail-biters (Ringu/The Ring, Ju-On/The Grudge) this one underwent a Hollywood remake in 2008 starring Jessica Alba. Just as with those, I can't imagine HW managed to improve on the original.

My favorite film of the month, however, was John Carpenter's They Live (1988). It's a camped-up Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring 80s wrestling superstar "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. He's chewing bubblegum and kickin' butt while uncovering an alien plot to slowly take over the human race through highly sophisticated subliminal conditioning. Thankfully for Earth has a hard-headed sidekick and his trusty Truth-Tellin' Sungees:


That's pretty much it for what I managed to watch this month (probably something on tap the next couple of days, then round up the political stuff by this weekend)

I will round out October by throwing some recs to check out if you're in full Halloween mode.
If you are on the East Coast you should probably NOT watch Take Shelter. Instead, just take shelter.

Here's a great youtube compilation of quotes that will inspire you to find something to watch

Wanna get Dis-Oriented?
In addition to The Host, The Eye, Ringu, etc. there are a slew of other great films from the Far East that are worth a look this week. From Oldboy to Audition, even going back to the mother of all monster movies, Godzilla. If I had to pick one weird one to suggest it would be House (Hausu). Not to be confused with the 1986 Steve Miner horror/comedy of the same name (also pretty great), this one is a really bizarre, almost psychedelic trip from 1977 by director Nobuhiko Obayashi. A group of schoolgirls takes a summer holiday to visit a long lost aunt who may or may not be a witch. But yeah, she totally is. It sets up slowly, but by the time one of the girls is dismembered and swallowed up by a piano you'll be WTF'ing over and over. And never trust cats again (not that your ever should have in the first place).

Speaking of Houses...

Let us not forget some other ominous edifices, from Psycho's gothic house overlooking the Bates Motel to The Amityville Horror house's all-seeing windows, to the lonely dilapidated farmhouse in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Apartments are no better, as Roman Polanski can brazenly attest: With Repulsion, The Tenant, and Rosemary's Baby, he created a loose, unsettling trilogy that will make you rethink tenancy as a safer option. My favorite haunted house, though, is Hill House from Robert Wise's 1963 classic, The Haunting. With a terrific backstory, and mostly a simple, sinister use of editing, sound effects and chilling music, you'll be on edge as the inevitable dread builds up inside the characters as their sanity slowly disintegrates and the unseen horror advances.

Some Vamps Don't Sparkle
So you've got your Nosferati -- 1922, 1979, 2000 -- and your Draculi -- 1931, 1974 ("The Blood of these whores is killing me!!"), Plus all of the great Hammer horror Dracs, and yeah, even the Bram is worth watching for Oldman. (Keanu...not so much.) As far as I'm concerned, Lost Boys has its fangs in the necks of too many, for around that same time but just around the corner lies Near Dark. Just a fantastic re-imagining of a pack of roaming sangre-suckers, with one of greatest bar fight scenes ever put on celluloid.


Screaming with Laughter
If you want some more camp if not all out laughs, it really doesn't get any better than Young Frankenstein. The Evil Dead Trilogy. And Rocky Horror, of course.  Off the beaten path a bit you've got Re-Animator,  Dead Alive, and a personal childhood fave, Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

And don't forget about Monster Squad! This seems like overkill,  but:


Well put, D.