Popcorn in Bed - The 'Burbs

 What an amazing scary-but-not-too-scary October. First "Clue,"then "Arachnophobia" and now "The 'Burbs." 3 of my favorite underrated classic movies.

I can't imagine any October will top this. So many great lines cut out though...

10 MPH - Telling Scary Stories and Taking Vitals

 

Random Frankenstein Thoughts

 Today I was wondering why Frankenstein's (Frankenstein's monster's) head was flat. I don't remember it from the novel and it seems like such a random thing. Where did it come from? Who decided and why?

Well it originates in the movie "Frankenstein" (1931) but specifically un-credited make-up artist Jack Pierce. Says Pierce:

“I discovered there are six ways a surgeon can cut the skull, and I figured Dr. Frankenstein, who was not a practicing surgeon, would take the easiest. That is, he would cut the top of the skull straight across like a pot lid, hinge it, pop the brain in, and clamp it tight. That’s the reason I decided to made the Monster’s head square and flat like a box.”

And I'm so impressed by that. I just don't imagine make-up artists putting that much thought into their craft. They likely don't anymore.

Ok but why is he green? That's apparently still due to Pierce but the explanation is more complex. According to this article, his skin is described as yellow in the book. But Pierce made him green because:

The color sensitivity of the film stock used in the 1930s meant that certain shades of green would show up on screen as a ghostly white. Karloff’s green makeup, then, both tinted the actor’s skin to a cadaverous pallor and gave him a decidedly different complexion than the rest of the cast.

But, of course, the movie is in black and white so why would that matter? Well, when it was time to make color promotional materials, artists used Boris Karloff in his full makeup as reference and so he was depicted to the public as green. And the rest is history.

Another quick Frankenstein-adjacent fun fact... Fred Gwynne, in making his Herman Munster character, based Herman's physical mannerisms on his mother. And it amazes me how I never noticed before, but if you look at him again, it just jumps out at you how feminine his physicality is. Not just feminine but maternal. In retrospect it completely makes sense.

Rifftrax - Halloween Party

 Another short film with no purpose. It seems there was an era where professors from Arizona State College would make shorts that have no entertainment, artistic or educational value. Just wasting everyone's time.

Game Grumps - A Spooky Scary Story

 

Homestar Runner - Halloween 2020

Homestar Runner is still releasing Halloween Specials every year. It's still charming and fun.

NakeyJakey - Horror in Video Games

You can stop watching at 15:42.

Late Night - The Skeleton Show

It's great to have a full episode uploaded from the old days. How is it that I have absolutely no memory of this show whatsoever? It's spooky.

Top of a head at 14:18!

The Grinch

Recently on reddit the story broke that there's actually a "prequel" to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" called "Halloween is Grinch Night". The reaction was shock: "how have I never heard of this 'til now?" There's actually a good reason no one's heard of it, it's terrible. If you can imagine taking the Grinch character and throwing him in a pointless, nonsense plot with many musical numbers and setting it at Halloween (sort of), you have "Halloween is Grinch Night". IMDB notes that it's the only Grinch special where he never becomes good in the end. Exactly. Why have characters with arcs?



But for all the "I can't believe there's another Grinch special" crowd, there's another surprise. There is actually a Grinch trilogy. Yes, there is a third Grinch special called "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat" from 1982.

Now this is where you want to be - The Dr. Seuss Cinematic Universe equivalent of the first "Avengers" movie. Although, I kind of remember the Cat in the Hat also being a villain, so this is like Godzilla fighting King Kong?

In this edition, the Grinch actually wakes up feeling good one day and decides to do good for the world. But he looks in the mirror and his image convinces him that he needs to stay bad. The special has just started and already we're in very interesting psychological and philosophical waters. Since the image in the mirror is also the Grinch, the Grinch is both good and bad but the bad side convinces the good side to be bad. The psychology motif will be repeated.

Following his re-dedication to evil, he has a road rage incident with the Cat in the Hat (the Cat in the Hat is on a picnic) and the Grinch decides he needs to make the rest of the Cat's life a living Hell.... using technology.

The Grinch makes a machine that causes any creature to naturally make any sound he wishes them to make, he makes a machine that projects darkness and then switches it up and projects pinkness. Then there are other things that I don't even comprehend. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

This is an interesting twist on the Grinch mythos. He's an inventor? In the first special, he's a caveman who works hard to sew and create a wooden sled. Now suddenly he's created a supercomputer that defies the very laws of physics.

What is the point of any of this? It's unclear other than he just wants to ruin the Cat's day. The Cat wonders about the psychology of the Grinch and what has caused his Grinchiness. Possibilities explored: it's genetic, he was abused by his mom, a bad word from his teacher, brain damage, he was bullied, excess sauerkraut. The Grinch is even seen on a psychiatrist's chair.

In the end, psycho-analysis IS how the Cat in the Hat defeats him - the Grinch's love for his mother is the key to unlocking the Grinch psychology and he turns good.

Don't get me wrong, I generally like this special, it's obviously miles better than the Halloween special. Having two major stars pitted against each other is interesting and I like the imaginative machines. But when you compare the moral of the story here (which is that Freud is the answer), with "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (in which the answer is "the spirit of Christmas" or whatever) and it's suddenly so clear that science will never be able to satisfy the deeper human need.

Happy Halloween 2018

Now that it's the 31, it's dark, the apple cider is poured and I'm waiting for trick-or-treaters, it's time for the creepiest, scariest Halloween clip of them all! Dare you proceed? WAH-HA-HA-HAAA!

Spooky Halloween, everyone!

GMM - Worst Halloween Candy Tournament

The 16 worst candies are set up bracket-style. One by one, the best of the worst are eliminated until the worst of the worst is revealed.







When I think to my days trick-or-treating, I think the candy I dreaded most was Mary Janes. I don't remember what they tasted like so maybe it was just the packaging. But Mary Jane isn't even included here. Maybe it's a regional food? Good & Plenty was quite bad too. With Good & Plenty, I always thought I'd like them because they looked good but then I'd rediscover the reality.

Best of the Worst - Halloween '18

The annual Best of the Worst Halloween tradition goes horribly awry and Jay killed cats when he was a kid.

Best of the Worst - Halloween Episode

In this year's Halloween episode of Best of the Worst, the gang watches "Vampire Assassin", "Hack-O-Lantern" and "Cathy's Curse".

Even though it's a Halloween episode, the scariest thing about it is alcoholism.

Late Night - New Halloween Costumes 1989

Perhaps my favorite Halloween tradition (at least as an adult). New Halloween costumes on Late Night/Late Show.


And yes, that is Macaulay Culkin in the McDLT.

JonTron - The Halloween Turducken

JonTron thinks that Halloween needs a signature dish and suggests the "Frankenstein of Poultry" - the Turducken.

It doesn't make sense but just go with it.



So the premise... we have set meals for other holidays but not Halloween. For Thanksgiving, it's turkey, for Christmas, it's ham. Hold up. Is it ham for Christmas? I always thought Easter was a ham meal. Is it ham for Easter and Christmas? Because if it is, that ruins the premise that each holiday gets a meal - a unique meal, anyway.

Or are other families eating something else for Easter? My family eats ham for Easter, turkey for Thanksgiving and steak for Christmas. I can understand that probably my family is unique but I'm still not convinced there are rules.

In England, the agreed upon Christmas meal is turkey. That's standard, I know. But then they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, obviously.

Game Grumps - Halloween

Well the countdown to Halloween is on. And while I'm more of a Reformation Day guy myself, I'll be posting Halloween-related things up to the day itself.

Today the Game Grumps play cheap, low-rated games on Steam.

First up is the horror classic Lost Base Escape.



Next, they play the horror-themed game Tungulus for some spectacular Tungulage.

This episode is a bit slower but some of the best horror thrillers are slow sometimes.

Tonight Show - Vince Vaughn

The always great Vince Vaughn.

Halloween - 1

As I write this, the light is on and the bowl of candy is on the table. No one's come by in a while so I think it's over. For the night I answered the door 9 times 10 times for 23 total 25 total trick-or-treaters. Possibly a new record.

And now a word about etiquette and protocol. I'm amused by how many kids just take as much candy as they wish to take. I always thought it was accepted that it's one piece each. Is this not the case? Do the kids today have an increased sense of entitlement? Or is it my fault... am I supposed to tell them to only take one. If so, that seems like a lot of work.

The designated activity for this year is re-visiting "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Seems like it requires a re-watch. Halloween doesn't have much to offer me: I don't have kids, I don't dress up, I don't like horror movies, but with IKWYDLS I can at least watch the prettiest girl of 1999, Ryan Phillippe.

But speaking of horror movies, the show Best of the Worst has a few Halloween episodes. This one stands out as it explains the origins of a certain photo that occasionally makes the rounds on social media...



It goes without saying that this is a movie review show in which some of the movies are NSFW so this movie is NSFW, by the associative property.

... And the sexy teens just decided to not report their hit and run to the police. I don't know that that's gonna be a good idea. This post is so long it's almost time for my Pon Farr...

Halloween - 2

Now that we're on the eve of Halloween, you might think it's time to really ramp up the fright. But I'm going to go the opposite direction and post unedited footage of a bear. Why go the horror route when bear footage is available?

So here it is... Unedited Footage of a Bear. Enjoy.

Halloween - 3

I mentioned yesterday that I was not aware of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" when it was around. Unlike that show, I WAS aware of the Goosebumps phenomenon while it was going on. But even so, I didn't read a single page of it or watch the TV show that it spawned.

But fortunately for me there's a podcast where adult men read a Goosebumps book originally intended for children and then discuss and analyze it. The podcast is called Goosebuds and it's a fun listen.

For an introduction, I recommend Episode 16 - Be Careful What You Wish For.

Although the show starts with Culling Plans and Super Soldiers, you can skip to 13:45 if you want to get straight to the book.