Monsterfest

[HConn]

Is anyone else as addicted to Monsterfest (http://www.amctv.com) as I am?

[LiamJackson]

Funny I should come across this post, at this exact moment. It's 4:22 AM and I'm watching the conclusion of "Son of Frankenstein" on AMC. Watched the Omen series yesterday and last night.

I have a lot of leisure time these days, and Monsterfest has been a great remedy for my cabin fever.

[HConn]

Sad to say that very little gets done during Monsterfest every year. The only saving grace is that I have to turn it off when my two year old is awake (and the movie was made after 1970 or so). That's when dishes get done and the dinner gets made.

DR. RENAULT'S SECRET is on right now. Next up: THE SKULL.

[LiamJackson]

H, have you selected a new "all-time favorite" from the reruns, yet?

[HConn]

At this point, I'll have to say AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, mainly because I hadn't seen it before. I'm looking forward to THE UNDYING MONSTER for the same reason.

[HConn]

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS is on right now. I really wish I'd gotten the chance to see the original Japanese version when it toured through here last summer.

[spooknov]

I'm admittedly one of "those" parents... My two boys watch most horror movies right along with us. (Sans movies including nudity/high gore content). We've been watching the Family Channel this past week. They do the 13 days of horror every year and I love it. I've been keeping my eye on AMC.

Oh, keep your eye one the travel channel too. I know it sounds odd, but they do documentaries every year on the most haunted places around the world. Some of them are pretty interesting.

[HConn]

I've tried to watch the Travel Channel shows, but they require more actual paying attention than my son will permit. :)

[spooknov]

Just thought I'd let yall know. The Sci-Fi channel is doing a 13 hours of horror marathon on Saturday.

[LiamJackson]

Doctor Giggles is playing at the moment. Oh gawd, this is funny stuff. I'm tempted to wake the wife, just to share the fun.

Tempted...not crazy.

[HConn]

DR. GIGGLES was an interesting story. In the early nineties, Universal decided it needed to revive its horror line, the movies that had been so famous in the thirties and forties. The first release was DR. GIGGLES, which tanked and set the plan back by several years (until the release of the first mummy movie, which Sommers followed up with VAN HELSING).

It really is a terrible title. And although Larry Drake was very good in the role (creepy as hell, I mean), he was too well-known for his role as the lovable mentally-handicapped guy on L.A. LAW. It's too bad, because it's an effective scary movie with a bit of panache (and I speak as someone who is not a fan of serial killer movies).

GODZILLA'S REVENGE is on right now. Thank God I've seen it before, or I'd think I was having an LSD flashback. I wonder if the guy who did the English voice-over for Minya lists it on his credits?

We have Godzilla movies all morning. I have to admit, when I was a kid, I loved kaiju movies and tv shows. I watched Ultraman every day, and suffered through the Space Giants and Johnny Socko, too. I even watched (/shudder) Gamera movies.

:nerd 8o :nerd 8o :nerd 8o

[LiamJackson]

Larry Drake is a superb actor. I was excited when I saw his name listed in the opening credits. Ironically, the "power of the title' almost made me pass on this one. As a title, Dr. Giggles brings back memories of all those campy, low budget 80s/90s slasher flicks that I so love to loathe.

As the movie evolved, I thought Drake did a passable job of (barely) salvaging a weak script. But if Dr. Giggles was intended as Unversial's horror-bell cow, I can see why the project suffered a setback.

I've also gotten a tremendous kick out of the Godzilla revival. Still, I wonder when we loaned out Godzilla to the aliens? I must have slept through that installment.

Edited for blatant disregard for the Spelling Gawds. I should know better than to post at that hour of the morning, anyway.

[HConn]

The aliens needed Godzilla and Rodan to fight a monster on their own planet. So they scooped them up and carted them off with their ultra-high technology.

It's a good thing the writer didn't write a line where one of hte heroes asks "Why don't they use that ultra-high technology on the monster ravaging their own world?" The movie would have been a half hour long if he had.

Why can't people make *good* giant monster movies?

THE FLY (original) is on now. Not very scary, but a good movie.

[MacAl Stone]

Heard a rebroadcast of War of the Worlds last night on NPR--heh. It holds up surprisingly well, actually--except the Mars part. And the heat rays with parabolic mirrors. And the...Well, anyhoo.

Makes you marvel at how much the genre has to change and adapt to adjust to an ever more sophisticated and jaded audience.