HALLOWEEN TOP 10: SEXY SUPES

From vampires and shifters, to ghosts and succubusses. Pause and drool. Bask in it.

#10 - Louis de Pointe du Lack in Interview with the Vampire (1994)

#9 - Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

#8 - Lestat de Lioncourt in Queen of the Damned (2002)

#7 - Leigh Turner in The Gates
 

 
#6 - Eric Northman in True Blood

#5 - Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries

#4 - Queen Sophie-Ann Leqlerc in True Blood

#3 - Young Moira in American Horror Story

#2 - Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night (2011)

#1 - Alcide Herveaux in True Blood

 

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: MACABRE DANCE NUMBERS

#10 - Cherry gives the dance of death in Planet Terror (2007)

#9 - Kim's frisky dance moves in Prom Night (1980)

#8 - Satanico Pandemonium gives a table dance in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

#7 - Iris starts a rebellious dance in The Ward (2010)

#6 - Violet does a sweet robot dance before getting stabbed to death in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

#5 - Baby Firefly performes 'I wanna be loved by you' in House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

#4 - Arlene gives Stuntman Mike a lap dance in Deathproof (2007)

#3 - One of Leland Palmer's many compulsive dance moves in Twin Peaks (1990)

#2 - Boy in hat does the creepiest dance scene in Insidious (2011)

#1 - The infamous 'Time Warp' dance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: GIRLS WITH ATTITUDE

Here's one for the mean girls and the girls with attitude in horror!

#10 - Andrea blames Dale for taking away her choice to die in The Walking Dead (S02E01, 2011)

#9 - Girl on girl drama when Debbies kills Tara and Sookie shoots Debbie in True Blood (S04E12, 2011)

#8 - Psycho Jill Roberts mutilates herself in Scre4m (2011)

#7 - The Queen, Sophie-Ann LeQlerc, lashes out at Eric Northman in True Blood (S03E01, 2010)

#6 - Eun-joo, the evil stepmother in A Tale of Two Sisters/Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003)

#5 - Aunt Mei's fetus stuffed dumpling cooking in Gaau Ji/Dumplings (2004)

#4 - Mandy kills Chloe in All the Boys Love Many Lane (2006)

#3 - Lynda gets pissed at ghost Bob and then stabbed to death in Halloween (1978)

#2 - Needy confronts Jennifer in Jennifer's Body (2010)

#1 - Norma, Sue and the others pour pig's blood over Carrie during the infamous 'prom scene' from Carrie (1976)

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: JUICY JINGLES

#10 - Tainted Love by Hannah Peel (American Horror Story 2011)

#9 - Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me by Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1975)

#8 - I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me by Katie Irving (Carrie 1976) 

#7 - Questions In A World of Blue by Julee Cruise (Fire Walk With Me 1992) 

#6 - Run Baby Run by The Newbeats (The Ward 2010)

#5 - Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes (Halloween 1978)

#4 - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels by Kitty Wells (The Devil's Rejects 2005)

#3 - The Love You Save by Joe Tex (Death Proof 2007)

#2 - Bleed to Feed by C.C. Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis (True Blood 2008) 

#1 - Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim (Insidious 2010)

 

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: CREEPY CHARACTERS

As per tradition, I will celebrate this Halloween and its seven day countdown with my Halloween Top 10-lists, warming up with some bizarre and creepy movie characters.

#10 -  Captain Spaulding, House of 1000 Corpses

I love Rob Zombie, both his music as well as the directorial debut of House of 1000 Corpses. Known for creating utterly and perversely bizarre characters, he's taken the worst scary figure, bordering on phobia, from my childhood and turned it into one of the most disgusting personalities hitting the screen.

#9 - Masked guy, Fire Walk With Me

There are a lot of symbols and characters I have yet to figure out the meaning behind in both Twin Peaks and Fire Walk With Me. It's safe to say that the masked guy and his little rendezvous with The Little Man From Another Place, BOB, Mrs. Tresmond and her grandson during a dream sequence in FWWM is one of them. 

#8 - Frank, Donnie Darko

Death manipulated or not, the point is not who's in there; the point is the costume itself.

#7 - The Stranger, 30 Days of Night

I don't do well with backwoods-dressed, redneck-accented guys who act and look like mad rapists. Especially not the appalling  appearances of the stranger in 30 Days of Night.

#6 - Margareth White, Carrie

No, sin never dies, but hopefully it get what it deserves and takes the rest of the nutty crusaders with it.

#5 - Mrs. Bertha Mills, The Others

Who doesn't love atmospheric ghost stories? Especially when you don't know which party is dead. Although I've always had a hard time seing Fionnula Flanagan as anyone else than Molly Culhane in How the West Was Won, she does the role of Mrs. Bertha Mills with beautiful and frightening ambiance. 

#4 - Constance, American Horror Story

There really isn't anything gory or obviously disturbing about FX featured murder house's next door neighbor Constance except the creepy atmosphere of her appearance.

#3 - Leatherface, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Uuhh, if I hadn't been so desensitized I'd probably have some serious nightmares about his face. There's something Transvestite-going Joker in Batman-going panicking retiree about this patchwork that makes me a little nauseous.

#2 - Dr. Frank-N-Furter, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The 1975 film adaption "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" of the British horror comedy stage musical "The Rocky Horror Show" presents Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter; the self-proclaimed "sweet transvestite" from Transsexual, Transylvania.

#1 - BOB, Twin Peaks/Fire Walk With Me

The garmonbozia fetishist Killer Bob is hands down the most frightening, psychological torturer/molester/terrorizer and with him David Lynch created a character that very few writers/directors could ever compare with.

WOMEN OF HORROR: I HEART GRETCHEN LOWELL!

I just wanna put my thumbs up for one of the best trilogies in the contemporary thriller genre; The Beauty Killer series by Chelsea Cain.

I stumbled upon the third book in the series as I was boarding a plane to Amsterdam almost exactly a year ago. I'd forgotten to bring something to read, and as I was glancing the shelves of the airport bookstore my eyes caught on Evil at Heart. Not only did it have a female serial killer for starters (yey!), it also took place in Portland, Oregon, spreading some gory human parts at the rest stops along the I-84. And as I was on this transfer flight to Amsterdam onwards to Portland, for the single reason of moving to a little town along the I-84, this seemed as the perfect reading material to get accustomed to the area.

While there's no escaping the gruesome and perverse murders, the focus of the series is mainly between the victim and the captor, in this case the twisted relationship between the female serial killer Gretchen Lowell and Archie Sheridan, the homicide detective that led the original investigation into her murders.

Gretchen Lowell is probably the most insane female entering the murder stage since the beautiful Charlize Theron portrayed Aileen Wournos in 2003's Monster. Except Gretchen Lowell is nothing like the Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer; this is the most seductive psychopath since Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

After being chased for almost ten years by "the Beauty Killer Task Force", Gretchen volunteers as a psychologist to help Archie and his task force to find the killer. A relationship that evolves from flirtatious to horrid, as Gretchen captivates and starts torturing Archie. However, on the brink of his death, Gretchen suddenly saves his life and turns herself in. No explanation given.

Two years later Heartsick presents an Archie Sheridan, addicted to pain killers and still obsessed with Gretchen in a painful and perverse Stockholm Syndrome kind of way. Both Sweetheart and Evil at Heart are two compulsive follow ups with the perfect blend of organ-ripping and blood-soaked gore written with an engaging voice and with a narrative style. So yeah, go buy it!

TERROR RAMBLINGS: DISAPPOINTING ENDINGS; GRAVE ENCOUNTERS & YELLOWBRICKROAD

Since classical ghost movies (Paranormal Activity, The Others, The Blair Witch Project, The Amityville Horror) and especially mocumentaries, are my all time favorites I had my hopes up for both Grave Encounters and YellowBrickRoad. 

Although Grave Encounters reminds a bit too much of Dr. Vannacutt and his House on Haunted Hill, there's still enough to make this a good film on its own. The story plot goes with a team of "ghost hunters" who are filming what supposedly will be a pilot for a TV-show called Grave Encounters, at Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital in rural Maryland. They boldly decide to let themselves be locked in the asylum for 8 hours to try to record what locals have described as "ghostly activity".

The 8 hour lock down turns into an ongoing nightmare where the doors won't unlock, objects start to move around, the team's food turns spoiled and rotten, the corridors become an endless labyrinth with no way out. An event that could have opened into anything, and hopefully something unexpected; still it lacks that intrigue and imagination that could have made it completely terrifying. 

There's just too much of the constant screaming and the shaky night vision cameras. Ghosts of the former mental patients turn up and disappear just as quickly, never really contributing to the event more than being a couple of good scares. And instead of giving the viewer a creepy and genuine experience Grave Encounters gives you a rehearsed dialogue and not natural enough performances to make you believe in a ghost hunting show turning real, where everything's explained to you, leaving hardy anything for your imagination. So yeah; kinda stating the obvious.

What bothers me the most is the ending. The same goes for YellowBrickRoad. 


YellowBrickRoad delivers the absolute right atmosphere and leaves room for the viewers imagination to roam free over the subtle but chilling elements; such as the behavior of the group members that develops into disturbing violence. Or the music which plays a vital role in the atmosphere, being somewhat the element that manipulates the story and the reason why the environment of the woods is so dangerous. 

A group of investigators sets out on an expedition into the woods outside the town of Friar, New Hampshire, to solve the mystery with the missing citizens of Friar who in 1940 walked up the winding mountain trail and vanished. 

First I thought YellowBrickRoad would turn into some parallel universe version, like after the turning the frozen wheel in LOST or like in the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks, since many of the elements in YellowBrickRoad remind me of both TV-shows. Not at all. This IS literally the yellow brick road in front of which a house in fact is placed. The Wizard of Oz-resemblance is interesting but completely unaccounted for as it's never explained.

Both Grave Encounters and YellowBrickRoad are really good indie-movies that build up tension and atmosphere just to have them spoiled by inadequate endings. Both movies present a series of events that both shock and scare but never give a plausible explanation. Instead; they have endings that try to interconnect with the origin of the stories and past events (a patient room at the mental asylum in the 1940's and a movie theater from 1940), making them "time travel" solutions that are both unsatisfying and disappointing. 

GRAVE ENCOUNTERS 2011 OFFICIAL TRAILER

YELLOWBRICKROAD 2010 OFFICIAL TRAILER