The Hippie Chick

Oct 3

Get Out

Synopsis from Google:

Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

A brilliant balance of humor and scares. Unsettling social commentary, thought provoking.



Amazon Prime

123Hulu.com

Oct 4

Zombieland

Synopsis from Google:

After a virus turns most people into zombies, the world's surviving humans remain locked in an ongoing battle against the hungry undead. Four survivors -- Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and his cohorts Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) -- abide by a list of survival rules and zombie-killing strategies as they make their way toward a rumored safe haven in Los Angeles.

More lighthearted than most zombie movies much like Shaun of the Dead. Still plenty of zombiefied gore. Quick paced, sly and snarky.



Amazon Prime (subscribers stream free)

Oct 29

The Hills Have Eyes

I guess watching American Horror Story this season made me think of watching this one. I put on the 1977, not the 2006 remake. From IMDb: On the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack.



Buy or rent on Amazon Prime

Oct 25

Double feature: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and Beetlejuice.
Felt like something a little more light hearted. I've loved The Ghost and Mr. Chicken since I was a kid. It's a fun one, and parents, you don't have to worry about watching it with your kids. Attaboy, Luther!

Beetlejuice is another I have just always loved. We would shout lines back to the screen throughout. And of course you have the big sing along worthy scene to "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)". Iconic.





Buy or rent The Ghost and Mr. Chicken on Amazon Prime!. You can stream free with a Starz! subscription, too.

Buy or rent Beetlejuice on Amazon Prime!

Oct 26

Carnival of Souls
We have the Criterion Collection edition of this one. From Rotten Tomatoes (85% on the Tomatometer, 74% Audience Rating): Mary Henry is enjoying the day by riding around in a car with two friends. When challenged to a drag, the women accept, but are forced off a bridge. It appears that all are drowned, until Mary, quite some time later, amazingly emerges from the river. After recovering, Mary accepts a job in a new town as a church organist, only to be dogged by a mysterious phantom figure that seems to reside in an old run-down pavilion. It is here that Mary must confront the personal demons of her spiritual insouciance. Effective and atmospheric.



Watch on Hulu. Do this while you can, because Ted Turner and Criterion are starting up their own streaming service called Filmstruck, due to open in November now (got delayed) and Criterion will be gone from Hulu and only available on the new service soon.

Buy or rent on Amazon Prime (stream free with a Fandor subscription) ! Same thing with Fandor, I'm sure Criterion Collection titles will be gone once Filmstruck opens.

Oct 19

Christine

Another that isn't new to me in the least, of course. One of the better screen adaptations of Stephen King's work. It's not so much the car that's creepy / scary here even though yes, it is, as it is watching nerdy Arnie change. Keith Gordon is fantastic here.



Rent or buy on Amazon Prime


Oct 20

We Are What We Are

From Rotten Tomatoes (85% on the Tomatometer, 49% audience rating):
The Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank rules his family with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost. As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris and Rose are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family. As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, the local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.

Disturbing, violent imagery and yes there's gore.



Watch on Netflix

Oct 14

Night Of The Living Dead

I had to bring out this classic, right?



Watch on Amazon Prime.

Watch on You Tube

Oct 15

The Conjuring
From IMDb: Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.. The suspense is built very well. Atmospheric and creepy. It's not what you see here, it's what you don't.



Rent on Amazon Prime

Oops... this'll be a catch up post. So without further ado...

Oct 7

The Mummy
Had to get in one of the Universal Monsters classics, don't you know. This is a favorite.

Oct 8

Christine
One of the better film adaptations of Stephen King's work in my humble.

Oct 9

Devil
Written by M. Night Shyamalan, directed by John Erik Dowdle. Five strangers are trapped in an elevator. One of them is Satan himself. But which one of them? I found a couple of the characters annoying and unlikable, but the suspense here was pretty good. It's a slow burner though.

Watch Devil on Netflix.

Oct 10

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Heather Lagenkamp takes us back where it all began. Featuring clips, rare photos and more.

Watch Never Sleep Again on Netflix

Oct 11

John Dies At The End

From the official website (via Rotten Tomatoes): It's a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't. Darkly funny. There's violence and some gore. I love just... how... nuts it is.

Watch John Dies At The End on Netflix.

Oct 3

The Den

Keeping on my mini theme of internet horrors I guess.

From Rotten Tomatoes (where it's 78% on the Tomatometer, 54% Audience Rating) :
After receiving a grant for her graduate thesis, Elizabeth Benton (Melanie Papalia) logs onto a video-chat site known as THE DEN, on a mission to explore the habits of its users. During one of her random video-chats, Elizabeth watches in horror as a teenage girl is gruesomely murdered in front of her webcam. While the police dismiss it as a viral prank, Elizabeth believes what she saw is real and takes it upon herself to find the truth. Her life quickly spirals out of control as she gets pulled deeper into the darkest recesses of the internet.

I'm intrigued with the Deep Web. In fact I watch Some Ordinary Gamers on You Tube every week when Mutahar does his Deep Web Browsing video series. This felt to me like it would be along those lines. The Den is more like Chatroulette than a chat room, though. It didn't disappoint me. It was intense in places, good jump scares. Didn't rely on being overly gory . I didn't know any of the actors here, either, which is cool. Watched it on my computer, which made it even creepier. You know what? I bet Unfriended was yanked from this idea. This movie does it a touch better though.

Watch The Den on Netflix.

I don't understand how Zero Dark Thirty got an Oscar nomination not to mention the Golden Globe nominations it got (though ♥ Jessica Chastain, who won Best Actress Drama) for best picture, because... no. I want my 2 1/2 hours back, damn it. Sorry, I know, I know... BUT IT HAPPENED! BUT THIS IS WHAT WE DID! Blah blah... bleh.

( More babbling this way! )

I have to see Django Unchained yet, and have that planned for tonight. Also need to see Beasts of the Southern Wild. Haven't seen Amour, don't know if I really need to? Anyone seen it and think it might be worth my while?

In other news I took a break in my Oscar movie watching and watched Pitch Perfect. I loved it! It was a cute movie.

The past couple of days I stuck with stuff around here I had DVDs of already. I might look on Netflix for something I haven't seen tomorrow night. It's almost here, guys! HALLOWEEN!



Oct 26: Orphan
Love this one, however thought it would have been a lot like a female "The Good Son" without the twist in the plot.

Oct 27: The Lost Boys
Kiefer Sutherland. That is all.

Oct 28: The Shining
Come play with us, Danny.

Oct 29: The Ring
Great stuff!

"The Girl" is a made for HBO movie that premiered last night. It centers around the making of two of Alfred Hitchcock's classic films "The Birds" and "Marnie". Both starred "the girl" of the title, Tippi Hedren.

The story is probably one you've already heard if you know your Hitchcock lore. He snatches the pretty blond Hedren out of an obscure modeling career to make her a star. He essentially becomes obsessed with her, falls in love with her, and when she spurns his sexual advances, he makes her life a living hell. For instance. Hitch made Tippi think that they'd be using a combination of robotic birds and special effects for the scene in "The Birds" in which Melanie Daniels goes upstairs, opens the closed door and birds attack her. The director never told her that his plan was to use live birds, which were thrown at her, take after take. She ended up injured and traumatized, leaving the production for a week. Tippi came back, finished the film and moved on to the next one on Hitch's slate, "Marnie".

Hitchcock had Hedren tied into a seven year contract with him, which he refused to break, causing her to lose some roles, try for other ones, and thus not being able to continue much of a movie career past the two films she did with him.

Sienna Miller plays Tippi Hedren. I thought she did a more than apt job in her characterization.

Let me talk about Toby Jones in this film. As he did with his role as Truman Capote in "Infamous", he became Hitchcock. Using prosthetics and his flair for uncanny impersonation, he was excellent. Might I add, also, just as his Truman Capote came in second to the more lauded performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Capote", there's another Hitch movie coming out, on a more grand scale. In theaters November 23, making it in time for Oscar consideration, Anthony Hopkins takes on the role of the famed director in "Hitchcock". Though, two totally different movies, one only covers the films with Hedren and focuses on her, here again, Mr. Jones could be overlooked in his portrayal as more attention is placed on the "bigger" film. I encourage you to check "The Girl" out when it's aired next!

Here are trailers for both films:

The Girl:



Hitchcock:



I'll tell you I'm excited about "Hitchcock" because Anthony Hopkins is awesome all the time. And from the trailer, he's won me over already.