Halloween Movie Thread

I know I just did one of these.

I saw House, from 1985 (or 1986 -- it was out in limited release December 1985, then full nationwide release February 1986), on Amazon Prime. With William "Greatest American Hero" Katt, George "Norm" Wendt, and Bull from "Night Court."

I kind of loved it.

It starts out as a sort of grounded, low-key, more serious movie. William Katt is a Vietnam vet troubled by nightmares about his time in the jungle. This is exacerbated by the fact he's chosen to right a memoir about his time in 'Nam, so he's dealing with those memories more than he ever has before.

Don't worry, he's not the Hollywood stereotype "crazy vet" or dysfunctional. He's a successful author and has his act together. He just has nightmares and bad memories.

What is making him a little crazy is that his young son disappeared without a trace when he was visiting his aunt's house under strange -- supernatural? -- circumstances.

After his aunt's death, he moves into the house to write his book. And he starts seeing things.

George Wendt shows up as a neighbor who's a little too eager to make friends with Katt.

And then things start going from reasonably grounded and realistic to... goofy.

And the transition is great. I'm the kind of guy who usually criticizes abrupt shifts in tone, but the director here manages it. It's a tonal shift, but a confident one. I didn't feel the shift in tone was due to the director not knowing what he was doing, but rather, he did know what he was doing, it's just that he wanted to do something odd.

Anyway, it's a lot of fun. Is it scary? Um, no. It's got rubber suit monsters which are called "ghosts," but it's not scary, except for a couple of good jump scares.

But it's a little trippy -- the house isn't your normal haunted house. It's got an odd property which I think most of you have seen a few times by now, but it was probably fresh in 1985. (This odd feature was also present in House 2, which I did see before. Also a good movie, but now that I've seen the first House, I think the original is better.)

William Katt is a good hero. The Vietnam vet thing comes into play because when demons and ghosts show up, he's not some pussy who goes crying home to mama. He doesn't even call the police, or the Church. He just gears up and gets to work.

In other words: He's Ash, but without the Bruce Campbell over-the-topness.

I think this movie is very influenced by Evil Dead 2 -- the trippiness, the rubber suit monsters, the odd wavering between horror and humor, and the unexpectedly fearless action hero protagonist. It's not as good as Evil Dead 2, and not as original of course, but it is a well-done Evil Dead 2-type movie. Much less gonzo-gory than that one, if gore puts you off. (In fact... I'm not sure there's much gore at all, except chopping up a ghoul or two.)

Whoops: Evil Dead 2 came out in 1987. So maybe, Evil Dead? Though that was less humorous and Ash wasn't a big badass in that one.

Who knows, maybe Evil Dead 2 was influenced by House! I hate to admit it, because Evil Dead 2 is one of my favorites and is so original, but maybe it's not so original! Maybe it's a rip-off of House!

Only three criticisms:

In a haunted house movie, especially one called House, you'd think the house itself would be scary. Yes it has grim visions and ghouls, but the house itself is clean, well-lit, cheerful, and cozy. The exterior has an Adams-Family-like complicated roofline, but other than that, it's just a nice suburban home. Some directors can take the mundane and cozy and make it seem ominous and sinister -- this director isn't one of them.

The "Vietnam" flashbacks are clearly stages just filled with some palm trees and fronds, and are only a little more convincing than the Gilligan's Island sets.

And the final confrontation would have been better if the movie flipped back to horror instead of remaining goofy. I liked the goofy stuff -- just not in the climax. I would have liked a more serious, real-horror-movie ending.

But it was lots of fun. Free if you've got Amazon Prime.

Might be good for a group watch.

Speaking of:

I have a good recommendation for a Halloween movie for a specific circumstance:
When you're with a group of people looking to watch a Halloween movie together.

Is it the best horror movie? No. Is it the scariest? No.

Is it great? No. It's merely pretty good.

But it's the best Halloween movie to watch with several friends, or your kids, as long as they're older than about 14.

Here's why it's the best group watch Halloween movie:

1, it's a Halloween movie, not just a horror movie. It's set in some town that is fanatical about Halloween traditions, and there's a superstition that if you fail to follow the rules (like for trick-or-treat), something terrible will happen to you. So it's wall-to-wall Halloween theming. After you watch it, you will have no confusion about whether you watched a Halloween movie or not.

2, it's funny. It's not very serious. It's a movie that's about Halloween shenanigans and having fun at Halloween. The light tone is good for a group.

3, it has the right amount of gore. I grew up with 80s horror movies so yes, for a Halloween movie, I want some blood and violence. But I don't usually appreciate that very serious, dark, almost unbearable way of presenting violence that you see in, for example, the Saw movies. Yes, give me a quick splash of blood that I can turn away from, if I have to. No, don't focus on a woman screaming for a full minute as she's cut with a knife. That's hard to take as a general matter, but that's not what you want with a movie a group of various tastes to watch.

The violence in Trick 'R Treat is the kind that makes you go "Aah!" and then laugh. Or say "Good kill." It's not the kind that will give you nightmares.

4, It's lively. Someone is always talking or doing something or getting rekt. Although quiet suspense is very effective for scaring people, especially when they're watching alone at night -- The Conjuring made me turn it off and watch the rest of it during daylight -- it can be deadly boring in group situations. Also, it only takes one guy to make a joke during a quiet, tense sequence and defeat the purpose of the silence, so better stay away from that kind of horror movie when watching with others.

5, it's very knowing, in a good way. The writer-director likes Halloween and the tropes of horror movies, and he knows the audience does too, so he plays with that for humorous effect. The stories in the movie aren't deep and are just variations of old campfire stories. But the movie is about taking pleasure in traditional spooky tropes.

And also, playing with the audience's genre knowledge of horror.

6, regarding the movie's liveliness, it's actually four short stories, but they're not like horror movie anthologies where each story is separate and unconnected to the others. All of these stories are taking place in the same town on the same night -- Halloween, of course -- and, as in Pulp Fiction, characters can therefore cameo in other character's stories. It's a fun way to tell the stories. So even if there is one story (or two) that aren't wowing you, you know they'll be cutting soon to another story.

So there you go. A fun, light, Halloween-themed Halloween movie.

Will it scare you? Well it'll jump-scare you a times!

It's not too proud for jump scares.

I do have one caution: I know that many people hate Child-In-Danger scenarios. This has two stories featuring Children-In-Danger. So that may be a turn-off.

On the other hand, the movie very much knows it's a movie, and that it's all fake, and all a lark, so it's not as if you ever buy that these are real children and are really in danger. The movie's self-aware/self-parodying nature provides a lot of distance from the events shown on the screen.

But I thought I'd mention that.

Oh, and I just saw this: It was produced -- not written or directed -- by noted pedo Bryan Singer. That might be another big turn-off.

Like I said, not the greatest horror movie, and maybe even more of a knowing tribute to horror movies than a real horror movie itself. But fun for a group-watch.

It's on Max. It has also been playing on AMC's streaming service from time to time -- I wanted to tell people it was on Monday, so they could record it, but I forgot to mention it. (And forgot to get someone to record it for me.) But it might pop up on AMC again.

And you can rent it on Amazon for $4.

Have you got any RECCOMENDATIONZZZ for Halloween viewing?

Here's some Bugs Bunny from a 1978 Halloween special. It's mostly a compilation of old monster-themed shorts.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:00 PM

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