I woudln't say he went on a killing spree, otherwise he would have just killed random people at random. He saw a girl walk up onto his porch and wanted to kill her for it and so he killed everyone around her to get to her.

I have to agree with the over-explaining position. It's why I disliked both the Texas Chainsaw and Nightmare on Elm street remakes, they went too deep into origin territory. These killers work better for me if there's still a shroud of mystery. Don't tell me Leatherface was bullied or some other stuff, it's a cheap way to try and force sympathy for a character who is otherwise still a raving mad murderer. Especially with Freddy though, it was confusing to try and spin that he could've been innocent in the remake. If he were innocent why would he come back from death to torment the children? Then the movie pretty quickly gets back to "oh wait, he was guilty!" business.

yeah, I feel like if they have a reason to do what they are doing then they can on some level be reasoned with, or sympathized. I think it's way spookier when some one with no apparent motive is trying to kill folks.

The Mummy (1959) - The Boris Karloff version of The Mummy is by far my favorite Mummy movie of all time. Growing up though, I enjoyed The Mummy's Hand as I liked the idea of Kharis even if the rest of it was lackluster. Thankfully, Hammer does a great job of doing the Kharis saga better in one single movie that Universal was able to across five movies. Christopher Lee is pretty awesome for having little to no dialog and Peter Cushing really rocks in this movie. It drags a bit in the middle, but it is a very enjoyable one and is also one I would rebuy on BD if WB were to ever release it. I give it a nice 7/10 stars.

We also just watched the newest THoH episode. It was at least better than the last few. I enjoyed the Kubrick episode and there were some good moments in The Others. The first segment was absolute horse crap though.

Personally, they should have made it that he was indeed innocent and that it was his rage that came back for revenge for him being burned for being innocent.

^ Yeah but if I get wrongly accused, or even murdered for killing children, my first instinct isn't gonna be "Wish I did kill those damn kids"! That would have made more sense if he was going after the parents.

THoH was pretty good (for a recent one) I still love the 90's ones best. I recorded the THoH marathon on FXX, probably get a chance to sit down and vege through them by Christmas.

saw Ouija : save your money and about 90 minutes of your life! if you want spoiler go eat some Taco Bell, wait about thirty minutes, do your business and stare into the bowl before you flush.

has anyone seen Beneath Still Watters? I saw it in a 5.00 Blu-Ray bin... that always makes me nervous.

I can not believe they actually even allowed the concept to be turned into a movie. Hasbro is just desperate to make movies, aren't they? Hell, the entire concept of a ouija board is utterly stupid to begin with.

I think Ouija boards are put out by parker brothers... yeah I didn't know they were still around either. but I'm with you, I think there are more imposing supernatural objects to make a horror movie out of rather than something you can pick up at K-mart for a teenage girls sleepover.

They Live - THe first time I saw this movie last year I instantly fell in love with it and it became my sixth favorite Carpenter movie. After watching it again, I think it might have moved up to the fourth spot as it is just so damn good. Not only that, but its political message holds up even truer this day, which is odd. Both V for Vendetta and They Live are two of the most prophetical movies I have ever seen. Easily an 8/10 stars.

I don't really consider They Live a horror film. Great movie and one of the best movie fights ever, but to me it's sci-fi, action-comedy, then maybe horror.

I don't know, the line between sci-fi and horror is pretty blurry, An alien invasion, that's scary. So just because the "monster" in a Horror movie happens to be an alien, or "scientifically plausible" does that make it a sci-fi as opposed to horror? where does that leave movies like Alien, pitch black, predator, invasion of the body snatchers, Critters, Species, Mimic, hell even The Thing! would those fall into Horror, or Sci-fi, or some cross genera, Sci-fi/Horror field? I think of Sci-fi as more of the Star Trek, Star Wars, Battle Star Galacta, Buck Rodgers set where there is no "this creature is going to kill you" concept as the driving force to the story.

Yes, I'd say there is a sci-fi/horror (or horror/sci-fi if you like) hybrid genre. If we look at Alien as an example, it has a sci-fi setting and elements but still heavily features horror aspects like the monster stalking and killing people. One distinction is the level of actual explanation given, the more they get into discussing the "science" the more it becomes science fiction. Alien and The Thing don't really tell us crap about the monsters' origin or reason-for-being, and that makes them more horror but you can't deny the sci-fi elements weaved into it. Think of it like horror/comedy movies, Evil Dead 2 is more horror themed but still comedy while Shaun of the Dead is more comedy yet still has some horror bits.

Predator isn't really a horror. It's an action/sci-fi/thriller mix, obviously action but undeniably uses sci-fi parts with thriller considering the build up to the alien's reveal and many of its kills are thriller style scenes. The franchise has been tied to the Alien franchise, so I get why they're usually thrown around together. Aliens was also more action than horror, but there are still horror moments throughout.

^Shit like this is why I have such a problem organizing my DVD collection. Is world war Z horror? It's a zombie flick which I would usually put squarely in the horror realm, but they go in depth into the entomology of the virus and the science of developing a vaccine... so that's sciency, right?

Honestly I just thought that movie was lame. IMDB considers World War Z an action-adventure-horror, so I'm gonna say you could put it in horror over sci-fi. Pretty much every zombie movie, unless the zombies are from space or something, isn't really gonna be sci-fi. You're gonna need a space setting, or be in the future, or have an alien of some kind (physically present or not) to start being sci-fi themed.

I definitely consider anything from John Carpenter horror, even Assault on Precinct 13. It is pretty much Night of the Living Dead but with gang members rather than zombies.

Book of Life - Love triangles have been done to death. In concept, this movie is nothing new as it is pretty much the plot of The Corpse Bride. On the other hand, the movie is done with great passion that you can not help but ignore its flaws and just enjoy the movie for the ride it brings. It is funny, it has a lot of mature themes, a great mix of music from various eras, excellent voice acting, and overall, it is just a fun ride from start to finish. I also got a big Oberon/Titania vibe from the underworld's lords, which was also good. THere are some truly excellent one liners and puns here and it makes up for the crappiness of The Box Trolls. If you don't mind unoriginal plots that have a unique execution, this is definitely a movie for you. Oh, but don't waste your time on the 3D as it sucks. I give this movie a 7/10 stars.

BTW, World War Z belongs under C for CRAP!

The Shining - As always, this movie has wonderful sound design, editing, cinematography, and visuals. The heart beat sounds when Jack is in Room 237 is just awesome as is the lengthy long camera shots like in the beginning with the beautiful angles and when Wendy is walking towards the radio to call the station. It is full of suspense and has some excellent scares in it. The only downside to the movie is Jack Nicholson himself. His descent into madness does not feel legitimate as Jack seems to be on the edge of the coin to insanity from the very beginning. It takes away from him supposedly transforming from good guy trying to right for his family into maniacal murdering psychopath. Also, Wendy is kind of a moron at times, but Danny does a great job of acting between both Danny and Tony. Overall, this is a fantastic movie and one of my favorite Stephen King movies to date. I give it an 8... er... maybe a 9 out of 10 stars.

The Fog Remake - What the hell did I just watch? Okay, to be fair, it makes far more sense that Nick and Elizabeth knew each other rather than Nick just picking up some hitchhiker and that hitchhiker just sleeping with him out of the blue, but still. This movie has no idea what suspense is or how to even build tension. There is no build up to anything going on, it just happens. There is way too much exposition in the sense of constant flashbacks and the ending is completely ripped off of an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark. Not only that, but the ending makes very little sense as it is just random. I get that she was a reincarnation of the captain's lover but why... how... HUH?! There are a lot of scenes that serve no purpose (such as her searching for the runes in Google only to have the computer go out so she has to look them up in a book five minutes later and the dude with the dogs) and it seems like the ghosts can perform all of these super powers to everyone BUT the main characters. Overall, this movie sucks ass and gets a lucky 2/10 stars only because... well I'm not sure why, probably because it isn't one of the worst movies ever made

So I had to fix something that came apart on my Alien dioramas and decided to make some modifications again. I also attempted to make an egg, but it didn't turn out so well. Nonetheless, I put it on there until I can get something better.

Here is the full slide show version with all of the pics I took: DisplayUpdate4 Slideshow by DrKainn | Photobucket

And a few to share now:

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps718836d4.jpg

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...psb907f22e.jpg

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6fe10df7.jpg

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8eb1a5b4.jpg

I've been hesitant to jump into the discourse here, because unlike a lot of you guys, I'm not a serious horror fan. However, I love sci-fi, fantasy, and action movies that heavily borrow elements of horror.
Your recent debate over genre-benders like Alien, Predator, They Live, The Thing, etc... peaked my interest, and gave me the perfect opening to jump in and share my thoughts.
To give you an idea of the stuff I like, Guillermo del Toro, John Carpenter, Ridley Scott, and Robert Rodriguez are a few of my favorite directors, and while these guys borrow HEAVILY from the horror genre, I wouldn't consider any, except for the obvious exception of John Carpenter, to be "horror" directors.

Personally, I never developed much of an interest in the slasher franchises like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, ect... but I do enjoy a handful of the Halloween movies, because I'm such a fan of Carpenter's work in general.
Also, to be frank, I realized that the horror genre just wasn't for me about a decade ago, after my horror-enthusiast friends finally convinced me to watch the original versions of I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left. After that, I had no desire to delve any deeper into the genre.
Furthermore, recently, while hanging with some more of my horror-enthusiast friends, I finally forced myself to watch Martyrs and A Serbian Film. Lol, yeah... I'm done with horror for good now. For good... Those movies will stick in your head for days and days after watching them.

But anyways, yeah, as much as I love horror/fantasy stuff like Pan's Labyrinth, horror/sci-fi like Donnie Darko and Videodrome, and horror/action like Dog Soldiers, Army of Darkness, From Dusk Til Dawn, and my personal guilty pleasure, Underworld, more straight-forward horror just isn't for me. I love certain things about the horror genre, but the excessively gory and exploitative aspects just aren't something that really appeals to me.

Actually Alien is a horror movie. It is a haunted house movie per Ridley Scott's directly.

I bought Videodrome back in July during B&N's Criterion sale and I have to honestly say I was disappointed with it. I was expecting so much more and what I got was more boredom than anything else. I'm going to give it another try in the future, but after hearing about how great it is over the last year, I was really hoping for something amazing.

Last house on the left, and I spit on you grave never really came off as "horror" to me, (don't get me wrong, rape is scary) but those are more like super violent revenge movies. I'd almost say there more like Deliverance than say Halloween. and I feel they rely on the shock value of some really delicate and taboo subject matter. I know it's weird that we live in a society where someone (like me) can watch an alien or monster mulch up a group of people with delight, but I still cringe when they bring something like rape into the story. I defiantly prefer my Horror movies to be suspenseful and even violent when it makes sense, but when you start putting really heavy real life issues like rape into the mix it takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. It's like I'm there to escape reality for a while, not have my face rubbed in it.

Honestly Guillermo Del Toro's horror movies are alright but he only actually directed like 3 of them so he isn't really a horror director, but he shines directing in fantasy/action/sci-fi such as Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy(s), and Pacific Rim. John Carpenter is a horror/sci-fi/fantasy director with Halloween, The Thing, They Live, and Big Trouble in Little China showing his range of film. Ridley Scott has been all over the place, but Alien is definitely a horror film and then a sci-fi, while Prometheus is sci-fi/horror, Blade Runner is sci-fi/noir, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven are historical-epics/dramas, and Legend is a fantasy film. So Ridley Scott isn't really in debate of being a horror director since he really only made the one. Robert Rodriguez is then a action/horror/over-the-top director with movies like Planet Terror and From Dusk Till Dawn going for horror themes with insanely over-the-top action moments for humor, while the Machete films are action themed with the same over-the-top action and violence.
If you change the setting to be like on a train instead of a spaceship and make it a more typical monster instead of an alien you do pretty much have just another monster-slasher flick of the time. The space-setting definitely helped establish and make the film noteworthy as a horror, but it didn't define the movie experience. Nobody was walking out going "gee I wonder when we'll have ships like that or if flying in space you could be put into cryo-freeze and stay that young or receive an alien distress signal from another planet and have androids and yatta yatta yatta." People were leaving like "shit did you see that thing come out of his chest! or that part when it pulled the guy up into the rafters! oh I don't wanna admit it, but the crew-member I was most worried about was the cat!" So yes, Alien is a horror movie. I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks the snazziest feature of NECA's upcoming Ripley figures isn't that they're the first toys ever to have Sigourney Weaver's likeness, but that they come with Jonesy!

I think the whole space element of Alien was to really illustrate the point that there was no running from it. In most horror movies your left thinking "why don't they just leave the house?" or "I would just keep walking." but if your on a space ship there is no where to go, there is no help coming, you can only hide so long, and your only option, no matter how afraid you are is to try to kill the creature before it kills you. and I just hope NECA doesn't do a "travel panties" Ripley.

It's the same isolated feeling of being alone and without help like The Thing and The Hills Have Eyes (albeit you could try to run away into the desert/mountains but that's equal chance of death). We all agree though that Alien is horror then sci-fi. I imagine the next Ripley would be from Aliens to go with the power-loader they're releasing, I hope that one comes with another Jonesy because you really can never have too many Jonesy figures.

BTW, I finished Tales from the Crypt Season 2 yesterday. I might try to start Season 3 this week, but we'll see. Either way, there is no way I'll finish it before Halloween, so that is where I will continue next year.