TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV Shows) 2016

Black Christmas (1974)

A psychopath sneaks into a sorority house attic and begins to stalk torment and murder the sisters. A simple but effective story,this has to be one of the earliest slashers pics made, predating Halloween by 4 years. And funny thing is, it was produced and direct by Bob "A Christmas Story" Clark.

Don't bother with the remake.  It's gory but really stupid.

Yeah I tend to stay away from recent horror remakes. I don't think I've seen one. I just know they wouldn't hold up.

I actually didn't mind the Black Xmas remake... It was mindless and stupid (of course) but it had some primo eye candy in it (Lacey Chabert, mmm-mmm!)

Anywhoo, it was back to the '70s Euro-crime scene for me this afternoon...

"Violent Naples" (1976)

Umberto "Nightmare City" Lenzi directed this spaghetti "Dirty Harry" about a tough police inspector who gets transferred to Naples to help put an end to the city's organized crime problem. Yup, that's the whole plot. In other words, a bunch of guys with rad '70s mustaches and wide lapels get into fistfights, car chases and gun battles for 90 minutes. Poorly dubbed but strangely entertaining action nonsense.

An Amicus anthology double feature :
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Vault Of Horror (1973)

Typical fare from Amicus during this period. 5 separate stories dealing with murder,revenge,the supernatural,etc. and all enjoyable. Nice casts in both, including Peter Cushing,Joan Collins and Tom "Dr. Who" Baker.

Also followed that up with Christmas Evil (1980)

A kid spots his mom and dad (dressed as Santa) horsing around in the living room, shattering his belief in Santa. As an adult, the goof starts spying on his neighbor kids, keeping ledgers on who's naughty and nice. Various circumstances eventually lead to a nervous breakdown and a Christmas Eve killing spree dressed as Santa. An interesting premise but in the end, it wasn't very good. Of note,The film also stars Jeffrey Demunn (Dale on the Walking Dead) as the killer's adult brother.

007 wrote:

Also followed that up with Christmas Evil (1980)

A kid spots his mom and dad (dressed as Santa) horsing around in the living room, shattering his belief in Santa. As an adult, the goof starts spying on his neighbor kids, keeping ledgers on who's naughty and nice. Various circumstances eventually lead to a nervous breakdown and a Christmas Eve killing spree dressed as Santa. An interesting premise but in the end, it wasn't very good. Of note,The film also stars Jeffrey Demunn (Dale on the Walking Dead) as the killer's adult brother.

Such a grim little flick. It's like "Taxi Driver" re-imagined as a holiday special.

Watched another 30 minutes of Christmas Horror Story. The zombie elves are easily the best story. Just hearing Santa ask them to stop is hilarious. "No Giggles!" "I know it's not your fault Shiney."

And that last one cracks me up. Shiney is the first of the zombie elves. I don't know if's that's how his name is spelled in the script but that's how I'm spelling it.

"Religulous" (2008)


Comedian, commentator, and avowed skeptic Bill Maher travels the globe and investigates the world's major religions, hoping to unravel the mystery of why Humanity can't all just can't get along. In a nutshell, the message of "Religulous" is pretty much "All religions are completely insane!" That might piss some viewers off, but if you've ever experienced the slightest bit of doubt about religion, you may find this snarky pseudo-documentary flick enlightening, hilarious, and possibly a bit frightening (Bill interviews a couple of seriously scary mofo's in this thing!). This movie will spark conversation, no matter what side of the fence you fall on.

The Walking Dead mid season finale

I rewatched one of my favorite films, Sidewalls, an Argentinian movie from 2011 about the isolation, loneliness, and types of relationships caused by the poor city planning of Buenos Aires.



Afterwards, I gave Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It a watch. It was a very nostalgic period piece about the lives of two brothers during the early 20th century in Missoula, Montana. The cinematography was very elegant and many shots made me wanna stand among the mountains of the mid-west and just soak up the unbridled beauty of the natural world. My only gripe with the movie was that it had voice-over narration that would've benefited from a less stiff reading.

I finished A Christmas Horror Story today.  I saw Santa early on.

Huh, totally didn't see it until the reveal and then I was like "duh!"

I didn't predict the exact ending but I definitely recognized Santa.

ROH

The Middle
American Housewife
Scream Queens

The Secret Life Of Pets

nevermore wrote:

The Secret Life Of Pets

How is that? I'm undecided from the trailers; some parts look funny and others look stupid as hell.

I started Krampus today.  I can't wait until he starts offing these really annoying people.

The Jeffersons
All In The Family
Barney Miller

The Goldberg's
Modern Family

Another 30 minutes of Krampus while I was on the elliptical.

I see what you mean FF; this movie could be a classic if it had more of a mean streak.

After watching the Rams and Seahawks game I stayed up and watched Late Night With Seth Myers to watch Megadeth perform.

The Big Bang Theory

tohostudios wrote:

Another 30 minutes of Krampus while I was on the elliptical.

I see what you mean FF; this movie could be a classic if it had more of a mean streak.

That's why I liked "A Christmas Horror Story" better. "Krampus" was definitely hampered by the PG-13 rating. I liked it, it's fun stuff, but I was hoping for something more horrific. "C.H.S." filled that bill better. 

Did you ever see "Trick r' Treat," the previous film by the same director as "Krampus?" It's become a Halloween perennial at my house. Much better than "Krampus."