13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #6 1408

Tonight's movie is one from the mind of Stephen King about one of the most haunted hotels, Manhattan's Dolphin Hotel. Everyone whostays in a particular room gets the full on haunting treatment. That room is 1408. John Cusack plays a paranormal debunker writing a book about haunted hotels and the Dolphin should prove to be crowning chapter. Cusack always seemed to skate just along the periphery of horror or other genre movie roles until recently, but he certainly stepped into it with 1408. This movie is something of an oddball and I almost didn't include it in the thirteen nights. There is so much more than a regular haunting going on in this movie. You'll just have to watch it to find out, if you haven't already seen it. I have only seen the theatrical version so far and cannot comment on the director's cut, which was included in the set that I bought.

There are also some other familiar faces in this movie, such as Samuel L. Jackson as the hotel manger. He certainly gets aroundHollywood movies across all genres. Horror newcomer Mary McCormack plays Cusack's ex-wife. She doesn't have a lot of screen time, but it was probably a good gig in between TV shows. Tony Shalhoub has a spot too as Cusack's literary agent. I just have to point out that Shalhoub was also in the heavily haunted movie Thir13en Ghosts, though here he doesn't get in on any of the action. That movie's ghosts put me in mind of the ones 1408 a little bit. The 1408 ghosts aren't so over top or gruesome, but they are stylized, and honestly I was a little disappointed in that quality of the effects. I'd even compare them to back when The Lawnmower Man came out, but this is maybe all too much information. Don't let this dissuade you from watching 1408.

Mood: contemplative.

Music: House Of 1000 Corpses by Rob Zombie. MP3s

13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #1 The Legend of Hell House

Hello and welcome to the first of the 13 Nights of Hallowe'en in 2010. Our first movie is The Legend of Hell House (1973). This is a hard one to pindown because there are other very similar movies, but this is the one based on the Richard Matheson novel of the same name and Matheson wrote the screenplay as well. A scientist--descriptions call him a physicist but essentially a parapsychologist--takes people to a supposedly haunted house to determine if there is life beyond death. A very popular plotline. So why this movie? Well for starters it's Matheson who brought us a lot of great novels and screenplays. Without spoiling anything this is a nicely atmospheric haunting movie. What I particularly like about it is the equipment Mr. Barrett uses in his investigation. The inclusion of Mrs. Barrett and what that adds is interesting as well.

It's easy to see what other movies the Hell House storyline has influenced. I won't go into most of them for the sake of those seeing this for the first time. It's not a direct comparison since he is not the psychic so I can tell you that I see Roddy McDowall's Benjamin Fischer as an influence on Matthew Lillard's Dennis Rafkin in Thir13en Ghosts. At the same time it's hard to deny the influence of Hell House on Stephen King's Rose Red. The film is considered a British horror movie despite Matheson's script. Most of it happens within the house so that doesn't really tie its location either. What is more telling about this production is that technology I mentioned before. While its purpose and inner makings might be timeless the outer design certainly wasn't. It was purely by happenstance that this first movie of the festivities is the oldest. Enjoy!

Mood: excited.

Music: Welcome To My Nightmare by Alice Cooper. MP3s

13 Nights of Halloween: Night #6: Thir13en Ghosts

Tonight we have "Thir13een Ghosts" a remake of a film of the same
name. The original came from director William Castle and involved special goggles that allowed characters in the movie to see ghosts, and cardboard glasses for the viewing audience to don when people on screen did. The remake comes from Dark Castle Entertainment, just like last night's movie. It also boasts K.N.B. EFX Group on the special effects, and what effects they are! The thirteen ghosts are spectacular, from their histories, to their visual appearances. There are no glasses needed for this remake. I have to say, this movie is a real doozy. Let me tell you a bit about it.

First off on the wow scale we have the set(s) for the bulk of the movie, a big mansion kind of house with all of the walls made of out unbreakable glass. The walls have weird writing all over it when seen through the special glasses that the characters find in scattered rooms. Besides being a nightmare for the filming crew this mansion is a real house of horrors. Then of course we have the ghosts, which I touched on already. Tony Shaloub stars as the new owner of the house and proves there was life before Monk (which I've never really watched). We also have Matthew Lillard as a psychic, and man oh man, if this isn't a perfect role for him and maybe even a better performance than he gave us in Scream. So, what are you waiting for? Watch this movie already!

Mood: hyper.
Music: Killers by Iron Maiden.