Halloween HorrorFest Recommendations

Planning on a Halloween moviefest or just want to see some good horror to get in the spirit of the season ? Below is a list of some of my favorite suggestions.

1. Return of the Living Dead
2. From Beyond
3. The Thing
4. Scanners

5. Re Animator

6. Phantasm
7. Hellraiser
8. Friday the 13th (original)
9. Halloween
10. Evil Dead
11. House
Happy horror viewing !

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From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut) (1986)

From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut) (1986) This one is a true classic and one of my top ten !

The second H.P. Lovecraft adaptation by Stuart Gordon, FROM BEYOND is pure Lovecraftian science-terror. Out-there scientist Dr. Pretorious (Ted Sorel) and his assistant, Dr. Tillinghast (Jeffery Combs), are working towards breaking through earthly perceptions and revealing a new alternate universe. They do this by stimulating the pineal gland of the human brain, which enables people to see the strange creatures that inhabit a parallel dimension. Unfortunately, these creatures can now see humans as well, and they are none too pleased with it. Dr. Pretorious is killed by the floating monstrosities, but the police blame his assistant for the murder and lock him up. Only Dr. Katharine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) believes the insane tales of Dr. Tillinghast, and it's up to her to shut down the experiment that threatens to unleash the other-dimensional creatures on this universe forever. Great special effects and solid performances by Combs and Crampton complement a near-perfect realization by Gordon of Lovecraft's vividly detailed and chilling vision of scientific possibilities. AVAILABLE HERE ON DVD

Trivia

Dr. Bloch is named after Robert Bloch, the author of the novel upon which Psycho (1960) was based and a friend of writer H.P. Lovecraft.

Dr. Pretorious's character is named after Dr. Septimus Pretorius, Henry Frankenstein's former teacher, who seduces Henry to the dark side.

The address on the house is 666.

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Will The DVD be Obsolete ?

I think the question is when will the DVD be obsolete and join the ranks of VHS, Laserdisc, Betamax, reel to reel, etc. It has already almost completely happened in my household already my TiVo is the portal for almost everything I watch now and it saves me a lot in rental and DVD costs. If you can't record it off cable you can probably download it from Amazon.com or even get it for free from YouTube and watch it on your big screen television. Plus there's Netflix instant view which has a large constantly changing selection of all movie genres especially Horror and you get unlimited instant view with your Netflix membership and lots of stuff is HD ! Plus Youtube is really expanding the number of movies and TV shows you can watch full length and has a lot of classics from the 70s and 80s. You can also use the TiVo desktop to download and transfer pictures and movies from your computer to your TiVo device and vice versa, a really useful feature. Plus there are games you play on your television and all kinds of online features like photo sharing, music services, free music channels and lots more. If there is one piece of electronics I would recommend to everyone it is the TiVo because it is so much more than a DVR and you will wonder how you ever lived without it. I felt I needed to share this with all of my 80s Horror movie fans because it can really broaden your horizons as far as what is available for you to watch without ever leaving your chair.

here's a breakdown of the cost
TiVo HD $249.99 w/ FREE shipping The lowest price around this is from Amazon comp to $299 at Best Buy
TiVo Wireless Network Adapter $35.95 at Amazon + $2.10 shipping $69.99 at Best Buy
Netflix service w/ unlimited instant view $8.99 FREE TRIAL HERE
Tivo monthly service $12.95

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The Deadly Spawn (1983)

The Deadly Spawn (1983) This is one of my all time favorites ! Two campers in the New Jersey woods have their outdoor fun interrupted by the arrival of a meteorite crashing nearby. They go to investigate the crater, but are suddenly attacked and devoured by alien parasites who have hitched a ride to Earth. After finishing off the campers, the hungry space monsters head for a nearby town, where they make their domain in the basement of an old house soon begin polishing off one hapless inhabitant after another. Four young teenagers, plus one pre-teen boy, try to find a way to stop the angry space monsters before they reproduce and literally eat humanity.WATCH THE TRAILER HERE  BUY IT ON DVD HERE 

Trivia :The effects of the mini-spawns slithering across the floor in the basement was achieved by cutting a "S" wriggle into the floor, and pulling the spawns along under the floor.

The mother spawn was constructed in the basement of effects artist John Dods. However, no one took the creature's size into consideration, so when they had to have it on set, they had to cut off one of the creature's heads to get it through a doorway, and reassemble it on set.

Gene Simmons of the band 'KISS' currently owns the prop severed head of the kid's mother. It was given to him by Tim Sullivan when he interviewed Simmons for "Fangoria" in 1983.

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Welcome to Spring Break (1988) AKA Nightmare Beach

Welcome to Spring Break (1988) SLASHER/SPRING BREAK MOVIE ! Directed by Harry Kirkpatrick AKA Umberto Lenzi

Watched this one last night on Amazon instant view and it's a lot of fun. This was another one I had forgotten about, but it's definitely a classic. Lots of T&A and gory death scenes and other beach fun !
WATCH TRAILER HERE

Diablo is a biker gang leader executed for the murder of a young woman. A year after his death, it's time for Spring Break. Football players Skip and Ronnie head to the beach, where Skip meets Gail, the sister of the woman who was murdered a year ago. All the fun and glory of Spring Break, however, is about to turn into a living nightmare when a mysterious person in a biker outfit begins to kill people by electrocution. Could it be that Diablo has returned from the dead?
Heads bursting into flames, vigilante priests, and John Saxon. What do these things all have in common? Cinema gold! This film includes such memorable scenes as the overweight, drunk college football fan who jumps into the backseat of the Florida star quarterback's convertible yelling, "Yeah, gators!" Also, one cannot omit the exceptional scene in which the Florida wide receiver attempts to pick a fight with the psycho priest. The wide receiver touches the priests motorcycle and his head instantly bursts into flames.

AVAILABLE ON DVD HERE AVAILABLE ON DEMAND HERE

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JUST BEFORE DAWN Another Lost Classic from 1981

Discovered this one last night on You Tube (its all in one file !) and watched it on my Tivo very good quality for youtube and a great lost classic slasher !
Just Before Dawn (1982) WATCH FOR FREE ON YOU TUBE HERE (GOOD QUALITY)
Five youths set out for a weekend camping excursion, to drink, frolic and skinny-dip on an isolated piece of land one of them has inherited. Despite ominous warnings of local forest Rangers, strange backwoods families and a hollering drunken hunter claiming to have witnessed his friends’ evisceration by the hands of "DEMONS", they trek farther into the foliage. Beautifully shot, extremely eerie, featuring the most demented murderer since Jason Voorhees, and a horrifying twist that will make you wonder...Will any of them survive those dark hours JUST BEFORE DAWN? AVAILABLE ON DVD HERE

Trivia :

The original script included a sixth camper named Eileen, who dies when she is thrown off of a cliff. It also included a climax involving Connie being forced to handle rattlesnakes by the in-bred villains.
The title of the original screenplay was 'The Last Ritual'. The title was changed after the scripts heavy religious theme was axed and the story was rigorously revised.
Director Jeff Lieberman cites Deliverance (1972) as the films primary influence.
Actor Chris Lemmon was performing a truly dangerous stunt when he was shot clinging to ropes after his fall into the rushing river. Lemmon had to psychically hang on to the ropes for a time as the powerful river pulled at him. Only a matter of feet from him was the top of a huge waterfall that was quite infamous for fatal falls.
Director Jeff Lieberman said that countless strangers showed up at the filming location on the day that the scene of Jamie Rose swimming topless was to be filmed. Lieberman said that word of this shoot had apparently gotten out among the local forest rangers.
According to director Jeff Lieberman despite the numerous reviews of Just Before Dawn that have implied it was inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) or The Hills Have Eyes (1977), he had not seen either film at the time of making Just Before Dawn.
The eerie whistling motif heard in Brad Fiedel's music score is a reference to the rescue whistle that Warren carries in the film.
Despite its authentic, weathered appearance the 'old' church house used in the film was actually built for the production.
According to composer Brad Fiedel many of the ominous sounds in the music score were actually electronically-altered audio clips of himself vocalizing droning noises.

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New Sci Fi / Horror Blog started, getting back to my roots ! These are the films that started my love of Horror and Sci Fi before I settled on the 80's as my favorite decade ( probably because I grew up in the 80's ) These are some great movies, Check it out....

http://theatomicbrain.blogspot.com/

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