Kiss Me At Midnight....

Merry Christmas To All...

...and to all a good (and gruesome) night!

Oh, how I do love themed-horror movies, particularly when it is Christmastime.

My last post gave you numbers 10-6 of my list of favorite Christmas horror movies. Here are the top five:

5. Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage



Thomas Kinkade, the painter of light! Oh, the horror, the horror! Oh, that red scarf that Jared Padalecki wears around his neck! I must cover my eyes! ( Don't worry, Jared Padalecki, we will still watch you on Supernatural; just don't submit us to this again).

Ok, this isn't really horror, but I had to include it. A random killer hacking his way through this movie might be an improvement.
4. Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974)


Because where else would you be on Christmas Eve other than a mansion turned mental asylum?

3. Christmas Evil



This film is really a cautionary tale for all would-be parents who are thinking of lying to their children about Santa. I mean, really, who thought telling children that Santa is real was a good idea? Who thought the little ones wouldn't be scarred when they realized it was just Dad dressed up in a fake beard and red suit?

2. P2 



I almost didn't include this movie, but I did find it creepy. It was suspenseful at moments, and just a good, overall film, especially when you consider it is really just a cast of two actors in one location (a parking garage). The Christmas Eve setting is almost secondary, but it is necessary to the plot. After all, how else could you explain an empty office building? Plus, the dinner scene between the kidnapper and his captive woman is just eerie. The Christmas decorations, the food, the music all just added to the atmosphere. Overall, an enjoyable movie.

1. Elves [VHS] (1989)



I have to admit I've never seen this movie; I've never even heard of this movie. But it looks AWESOME! A Nazi experiment gone wrong! Murderous elves! Grizzly Adams! What more could you ask for in a Christmas horror film?

And so concludes my list of holiday horror. There were many, many more I could've included, but that would have messed up my nice and tidy list of ten (plus, I need to leave a few for next year).

Seriously, though, I hope you enjoyed this list as much as I did. And I hope you are enjoying your holiday season.

Luke 2:14: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

It's Christmas Eve and You Know What That Means...

lTHE CHRISTMAS HORROR MOVIE LIST!!!

Or at least Part I, anyway.

So, dust off your Santa hat, hang your stockings (by the chimney with care, of course), and snuggle in with some hot cocoa...

I've already given you a little sneak peak of the first three in previous entries:

10. Gremlins

9. Jack Frost

8. Black Christmas (1974)

NOTE: I know they remade Black Christmas a few years ago, but as much as I love Buffy's Michelle Trachtenberg, I still like to watch the original. I mean, it is absolutely classic 1970's horror. The villain gets absolutely no back story. The plot consists of only a madman killing young women at Christmas. Throw in a little of that day-glo red blood and some well-placed moans and groans (mostly from the killer) and you've got a fun, popcorn horror flick that is bad in the very best way possible.

7. Don't Open 'Til Christmas (1984)


 
Teehee...this movie trailer makes me giggle. Doesn't it just look like such a Grindhouse movie that it almost doesn't even look real?
It's almost as if it is a parody of itself, but it isn't! I cannot even tell you what I love  most. Maybe it's the premise: a serial killer who only kills Santas. Hmmmm....have we found a precursor to our favorite specialized serial killer, Dexter? Or maybe it's the random, glittery Disco music in the middle of all the mayhem. I don't know, but I like it.

6. Silent Night, Deadly Night



Here's another goodie courtesy of the 1980's. This one is from 1984 too...that Christmas must have been horrific. I love the title, a lovely take on a classic carol. And those animatronic elves are enough to give anyone nightmares. The trailer itself isn't the best, but I absolutely love the film's taglines. Here are a few from IMDB:
You've made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas

---

Santa's Here!

---

He knows when you've been naughty

---

Shocking... disturbing... The movie they tried to ban.

---

If "A Nightmare on Elm Street" gave you sleepless nights, or if "Halloween" made you jump in every shadow or if every "Friday the 13th" was more frightening that the others... THEN BEWARE!

That's right...beware the holiday-themed horror movie!!


These should be enough to get you through the night. Check back tomorrow for the continuation of the list! Oh, and watch out for fat men trying to sneak into your house tonight. Santa is not always so jolly...

See you tomorrow!

Can Corey Feldman Save Christmas?

Never let them eat after midnight!

Heehee... I had to include this in my favorite films of the Christmas season. I don't know if it is truly "horror," but it scared the living daylights out of me as a child. It really does not get much better than this. Gizmo, Pheobe Cates, Corey Feldman...need I say more?

Not only is the movie set during Christmas, it also serves as a cautionary tale for all would be Santas out there.

Don't remember what I'm talking about? Allow me to refresh your memory...



A few things a love about that scene:

1) Pretty sure that's an urban legend I've heard before

2) Gizmo shows more emotion than the boyfriend

3) The "subtlety" of the word Christmas shown in shadow along the back wall

Hope y'all are getting ready for Christmas...only a few more days for my full list of Christmas horror flicks. Coming Christmas Eve...

Another One to Put in Your Stocking...

Remember Shannon Elizabeth from American Pie? This was one of her early films.

And let me tell you...it is brilliant.

Ok, so the makers of this film do bill it as a horror/comedy. I guess I can give them some credit for not taking this movie so seriously, but...come on, really? A snowman? I get that dolls can be creepy. I definitely understand the ick factor of the clown. But a snowman?

I guess I just never understood the terror of something that could be defeated by a sunny day.

Oh, well. This is still enjoyable as an incredibly bad holiday horror movie.

What's even funnier is that it looks like they used the same snowman from that Michael Keaton movie of the same name. You know, the one where the father dies and he comes back as a snowman to help his family? I ask you...why wasn't that a horror movie plot?

But I'm getting off topic. Back to this Jack Frost.

If you want more, I dare you to go to YouTube and look up the bathtub scene from this movie. It does for bubble baths what The Evil Dead did for trees.

Enjoy!!

Oh, and a full list of Christmas-themed horror flicks to come...

Black Christmas (1974) Full Trailer

Well, kiddos, it's that time of year again.

Bright lights, shiny tinsel on the tree...or is that just the glint from the knife in the serial killer's hand? It is so hard to tell.

Keeping with what is quickly becoming a tradition, I am compiling a list of appropriately holiday-themed horror movies. This one is a personal favorite. I know they remade it a few years ago, but I still prefer the original 1974 version. In fact, I have been known to show Black Christmas and White Christmas back-to-back. I call it, wait for it, wait for it...

Gray Christmas!

Ok, maybe that title needs some work.

Speaking of work, I need to get back to mine. Enjoy this little taste of the blog entry that will come next week...the horror films of Christmas.

Season's Greetings...and watch out for those strange men looking to get into your house via the chimney. You never know which one has the gifts to fill your stocking and which one has the gore-streaked knife waiting to get you while you sleep. [Insert evil laugh here.]

Happy Holidays!

Is Technology Killing the Horror Movie?

I have this theory (ok...not really mine...many, many people share this opinion) that for horror to be truly scary it needs a few key elements. The first and foremost is a feeling of claustrophobia--that is, the feeling that escape is not possible.

I've written about this before, but this though really struck me as I was revisiting a classic Stephen King tale, Cujo (25th Anniversary Edition). I haven't read the book or seen the movie in ages, so when AMC recently aired the film version, I sat down and watched. The story, while flawed, is still a pretty scary one, in my opinion. What really gets me, though, is the simplicity of the plot. It's only a mother and her son in a broken down car in the middle of nowhere. Add in a rabid dog (a St. Bernard, no less) stalking just outside, and the story becomes truly terrifying. It doesn't get much more claustrophobic. The pair cannot even leave their car for long, for fear of the dog; just trying to use the restroom takes equal parts careful planning and just dumb luck. The image of the mother, lying bleeding and nearly lifeless following the dog attack, and her son, screaming and half-naked in the back seat, is one that haunts my nightmares.

Then, something else occurred to me. This story could not happen today. The mother would have had a cellphone. The son probably would have had a cellphone. They could have called for help--the local police, an ambulance service, animal control, and probably a pizza delivery while they waited. Heck, the mother could have even used her smart phone to learn how to treat a dog bite and recognize the symptoms of a rabid dog. This same story set in 2003 or 2013--not 1983--would have been a short, boring tale.

Technology, it seems, is connecting the world, making us closer to everything and everyone, and destroying the horror genre as a result.

Sure, there have been brave writers and directors who have attempted to infuse their stories with modern technology, but none of them have really struck me as outstanding. Films like Shutter, Fear Dot Com, Pulse (Unrated Widescreen Edition), and One Missed Callcome to mind.

Instead, more writers are having to get creative with their settings, choosing to set their plots in places away from the reach of the wireless signal. For example, the underground cave, as in The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Widescreen Edition], or outer space, or even a post-apocalyptic world where technology has been rendered useless (The Walking Dead, Book 1 (Bk. 1) does this well) are all settings that the horror genre is now embracing.

When my father and I went to the movies to see the Let Me In (the recent remake of the 2009 Swedish film Let The Right One In), he only had one question as we left the theater. He couldn't understand why the film was set in the early 1980's.

Easy, I thought. No cellphones. No computers in the home. Complete isolation. If the kid had had a smart phone and a complete gaming system (with internet connection) at home, would he ever had met the little vampire girl? My thoughts...probably not.