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Midnight Movies
This group is for people who love horror and sci-fi movies -- from the classics to "so bad it's good" B-movies. If you'd like to review or discuss your favorite films, or compare originals and remakes or sequels, or reminisce about your favorite monsters or TV movie hosts, check us out.
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Check Out Our Library
"Midnight Movies" has a library of various items of interest to horror and science fiction fans: episodes of old horror and science fiction radio shows, stories from pre-Code horror comic books, and a collection of horror and science fiction literature (including Stoker, Shelley, Poe, Lovecraft, H.G.Wells, M.R. James, Ambrose Bierce, etc.) There are now over 200 items in the library, and it continues to grow. All items can be downloaded; many can be printed or burned to a CD. As far as we know, everything in the library is in the Public Domain.
A link to an alphabetical list, by title, of most of the items in the library is here:
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A link to the first Files Page is here:
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If either of these links is not working, simply click on the Word "Files" in the pink area directly above this announcement. It will take you to the first Files Page. The first item on the first page is the library contents list.
4 months ago
Recent Messages
Welcome!
Welcome to new member craftyperson! Enjoy our Fuinhouse! Craftiness may help you navigate your way through the deadly dangers -- er, the eerie attractions you'll find here! :-)
So What Did You Watch This Weekend?
We have a winner -- in a manner of speaking. "Death Tunnel" is without question and by far the worst piece of crap I ever saw on the Sci Fi Channel, nosing out even such pathetic "competition" as, say, "Rock Monster."
Director Phillip Allen Booth gave himself the credit "shot, cut and directed by" for this one. The movie strains to be stylish, shifting between grainy "old" footage, newspaper clippings, security camera video, and current action. It's filmed in the Waverly Hills Sanitarium, one of the creepiest settings I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the setting is the only thing about the film that's even remotely interesting.
The 2005 film came out a year after "Saw," and borrows heavily from it -- five girls who attend a fraternity-sponsored "Truth Or Scare" party wake up in the abandoned sanitarium, and hear spooky instructions (and taunts) in a distorted voice. They have five hours to find their way out. It's supposed to be a prank, but even knowing that, they start snivelling in terror from the first second they spend there. For the first hour of the film, it's like "Saw" would have been if it were completely vague -- the girls encounter things no scarier than a standard funhouse prop would be, and react hysterically to every one, and it's not at all clear exactly what's going on.Ghostly figures wander by, a hanged corpse drops into a scene and is then instantly yanked out of sight, the camera keeps cutting to another scene right after a girl screams as if she's about to be murdered, and nothing actually happens at all. With one exception, the girls are glamorous but insufferable snots who were pointedly rude to other characters in the first scene; they have names like "Ashleigh" and "Tory." We either don't care what happens to them or actually want them to die.
In the second hour they start dying off at a rapid clip (supposedly one per every hour of the five). The methods all reflect a historical death that occurred at the sanatorium in the 1920s, when it housed incurable dying victims of something called "The White Plague," many of whom committed suicide. Eventually we learn that they, and the fraternity prankster, are all descendants of folks who were connected to the asylum then. This doesn't make us care about them any more.
Even after the violence starts, "Death Tunnel" is boring. The first hour is distractingly vague, the second, inane and utterly predictable. Once the plot has "thickened," the director largely abandons the trippy visual approach that was the only interesting aspect of the film. I would have been more engrossed in seeing a "Ghost Hunters" episode filmed at Waverly. There's probably been one -- but I haven't seen it because I don't even like "Ghost Hunters." I'd still rather watch it than this film.
I certainly hope you fared better than I did with your weekend TV watching. What did you see, anyway?
Frankenstein 1970 (1958)
Baron Victor Von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) has fallen on hard times; he was tortured at the hands of the Nazis for not cooperating with them during World War II and he is now badly disfigured. As his family's wealth begins to run out, the Baron is forced to allow a TV crew shooting a documentary on his monster-making ancestors to film at his castle in Germany. However, the Baron has some ideas of his own: using the money from the crew's rent he buys an atomic reactor and uses it to create a hulking monster, transplanting his butler's brain into the thing and using it to kill off the crew for more spare parts.
Anyone else see True Blood?
Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer in "True Blood"
I watched the first episode of "True Blood" tonight, and I was impressed (actually, "hooked" would be more accurate). I'll definitely keep watching.
It was witty, especially the opening scene, which was a scream. It has a lot of likeable and intriguing characters, and all the actors were good. One nice surprise was seeing Lois Smith, who really charmed me as Helen Hunt's sculptress aunt in "Twister," as main character Sookie's grandmother.
It also had its share of sexy moments -- and scares, and violence. Think updated Tennesee Williams with vampires.
My favorite moment so far: early on we see an illuminated sign along a Southern highway that says in large letters, GOD HATES FANGS. Any show hip enough to spoof the Westboro Bigot Church is aces with me.
Did anyone else catch it? If so, what did you think?
Speaking of Radio programs
PT, I am not sure if you had posted this link or not but I came across one with a lot of Horror radio programs from the The Mercury Theatre on the Air, which was labelled as drama but still there are a lot of programs from the 1930's to 1940 that were saved.
The link is: view link
Which reads: The finest radio drama of the 1930’s was The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a show featuring the acclaimed New York drama company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman. In its brief run, it featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris.
Hopefully future generations will get an appreciation of how much radio was very much a part of our lives until television, cable, and dish networks have evolved into becoming a part of everyday living.
The link is: view link
Which reads: The finest radio drama of the 1930’s was The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a show featuring the acclaimed New York drama company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman. In its brief run, it featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris.
Hopefully future generations will get an appreciation of how much radio was very much a part of our lives until television, cable, and dish networks have evolved into becoming a part of everyday living.
Remake of Psycho
Okay, this is a true story, my dad took me to see Psycho when I was five. He was separated from my mother and he took my brother and I to see it. My brother is 8 years older than I am. I can tell you that movie made a lasting impression on me.
So 48 years later, my daughter finds the remake on TV last night, really late, I was getting ready to hit the hay. "Please watch it with me," she says, "It has Vince Vaughn in it and I'm crazy about him. But I don't want to watch a scary movie by myself."
I said I would watch for a minute. I told her that there was no way, no way that I thought they should remake a Hitchcock classic. Oh well...
Anne Heche played the part that Janet Leigh played. Odd right there. But she didn't do a bad job. The shower scene just didn't work. And although it was interesting to see what they were trying to do, I can't say that I was impressed. I made it half way through. I just couldnt' stay awake.
Did anybody else see it? Was the end any good? Side note: the sets were retro, and Anne Heche's clothes but the cars were modern and it was set in modern times. Kind of interesting.
So 48 years later, my daughter finds the remake on TV last night, really late, I was getting ready to hit the hay. "Please watch it with me," she says, "It has Vince Vaughn in it and I'm crazy about him. But I don't want to watch a scary movie by myself."
I said I would watch for a minute. I told her that there was no way, no way that I thought they should remake a Hitchcock classic. Oh well...
Anne Heche played the part that Janet Leigh played. Odd right there. But she didn't do a bad job. The shower scene just didn't work. And although it was interesting to see what they were trying to do, I can't say that I was impressed. I made it half way through. I just couldnt' stay awake.
Did anybody else see it? Was the end any good? Side note: the sets were retro, and Anne Heche's clothes but the cars were modern and it was set in modern times. Kind of interesting.
Radio, Movies, Television and real life..
The picture PT posted with Steven Kings' horror quote of the twin towers and ho much truth was in that quote brought to might that day with such clearity that I had to ponder this.
How immune are we to the realities of horror when it is presented on the screen whether it is on the television or on the movie screen when trying to sort that out in our own mind.
I know when I watched online the second plane that rammed into the World Trade building my first thought was "How much of a fake set up is this?" Even after witnessing first hand the horrors of war ala Vietnam war (conflict?) that it really did not soak in what had actually gone down at that time. I was not until later on when the realization of what happened as well as reactions of people around me that it really hit about what was reality and what was not.
But I can recall the very first movie that actually had me thinking about any type of horror was "Deliverance", and that was because I actually knew the type of folks that were protrayed in the movie and the actions that they would do concerning rape, incest, and killing others with no concern over they own actions. And the first movie that I was scared while watching, The Exorcist. By today's standards of special effects seem kind of hooky but at the time seemed real enough to scare.
How immune are we to the realities of horror when it is presented on the screen whether it is on the television or on the movie screen when trying to sort that out in our own mind.
I know when I watched online the second plane that rammed into the World Trade building my first thought was "How much of a fake set up is this?" Even after witnessing first hand the horrors of war ala Vietnam war (conflict?) that it really did not soak in what had actually gone down at that time. I was not until later on when the realization of what happened as well as reactions of people around me that it really hit about what was reality and what was not.
But I can recall the very first movie that actually had me thinking about any type of horror was "Deliverance", and that was because I actually knew the type of folks that were protrayed in the movie and the actions that they would do concerning rape, incest, and killing others with no concern over they own actions. And the first movie that I was scared while watching, The Exorcist. By today's standards of special effects seem kind of hooky but at the time seemed real enough to scare.
"Poltergeist" Remake
from the original "Poltergiest"
By Jay A. Fernandez
Aug 19, 2008, 02:06 PM ET
Juliet Snowden and Stiles White are going into the light.
The "Boogeyman" scribes are rolling out more children's nightmares for MGM's planned remake of "Poltergeist," the 1982 horror film that made "they're here ..." the creepiest announcement ever voiced by a 6-year-old kneeling in front of a static-filled television.
The original "Poltergeist," directed by Tobe Hooper from a script co-written by Steven Spielberg, miraculously skirted an R rating despite its children-in-constant-peril, toy clown-strangling, face-peeling, skeleton-swimming medley of horrors. The MGM/UA release grossed $122 million worldwide and earned Oscar nominations for its ILM-designed visual effects, sound effects and score.
The story of a suburban home built over an Indian burial ground and thus inhabited by a nasty spook earned further cult status when two of the child actors in the movie died after the film's release. Two nerve-jangling sequels were produced.
-- from The Hollywood Reporter
view link
***
Actually, one of the child actors died after the first film's release, and one before the completion of the third film.
I've seen a lot of items on the Internet about this sequel for quite awhile, but this is the first one I found from the mainstream press -- and the first one that seemed to be more than vague rumors. I understand, though, that the news was first broken by BloodyDisgusting.com.
My spirit guides tell me that this remake will suck. (Sorry, guys ,just kidding). I'm just so tired of hearing about plans for yet another remake of a gem. We need more gems, not more copies.
Photos
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Frankenstein...
about 3 hours ago
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from True Blood
about 12 hours ago
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about 16 hours ago
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1 day ago
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The Twin Towers
1 day ago
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The Haunted ...
2 days ago
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