Horror Movies

[WolfofWords]

Final horror movie of the event was kind of a dud.


The Night Before Halloween (2016)
A group of friends are tricked into playing a prank that puts their friend in the hospital and are then cursed to die for it. It's one part Final Destination, one part I Know What You Did Last Summer, and one part Truth or Dare.

[Space Ghost]

If you're cursed to die, at least kill somebody first. There seems to be a bit of an overreaction if you are doomed to die because somebody got hospitalized.

"You are doomed to be in traction for a few weeks! And have a lot of exorbitant bills from health care providers that you didn't even know were in the building!!" I mean, that's pretty horrifying, and it fits the transgression better.

[WolfofWords]

Well, to spoil a not great movie: They actually get punished when their friend dies. The negligent hospital realizes that the patient has been brain-dead for a while which qualifies for the curse. It's a bit convoluted.

The surprising part is that the final girl actually tricks her boyfriend into killing himself to get out of it.

[Space Ghost]

Well, to spoil a not great movie: They actually get punished when their friend dies. The negligent hospital realizes that the patient has been brain-dead for a while which qualifies for the curse. It's a bit convoluted.

The surprising part is that the final girl actually tricks her boyfriend into killing himself to get out of it.

Yeah. I'm gonna be over here all confused.

[WolfofWords]

Thanksgiving horror! As if family and all those dishes weren't terrifying enough.



Blood Rage (1987)
After a traumatic incident in their youth, Todd escapes the asylum he has been in for years to attend Thanksgiving with his mother and his twin brother Terry. Really fun gore effects in this one.


The Last Thanksgiving (2020)
A cannibalistic family practices their holiday tradition by stalking and killing staff and patrons of a restaurant who are not celebrating Thanksgiving. Some traditions should end.


Black Friday (2021)
Workers are confronted by alien zombies while being forced to work on Thanksgiving night. Very funny movie that ends up having things to say about family, found family, and, of course, the hell of retail work.

[WolfofWords]

Some very festive killer Santa Clauses.


Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

A robotic AI Santa Claus in a toy store goes berserk and chases a woman through a small town, causing extreme havoc and death. It felt like a holiday take on Terminator. The movie dialogue felt kind of punk rock.


Deadly Games (1989) aka 36.15 code Père Noël

An insane man dresses as Pere Noel and invades the mansion in pursuit of a young boy and his frail grandfather. The boy must defend his homestead from this maniac. This is a movie from France and therefore entirely in French. The movie was written (but did not release in the US) one year before Home Alone and the director thought about suing over it. Eventually, he realized that suing might reflect badly on his own career. Fun fact, the original title refers to early Internet technology known as Minitel which is how the killer finds his target.


Christmas Evil (1980)

A man who is psychologically scarred as a kid changes himself into Santa Claus to give joy to the world but also ends up snapping and punishing those who are naughty. This is actually a really touching character study about extreme depression and mental health while also having some horror elements. A favorite of John Waters.

[WolfofWords]

In the midst of my holiday viewing, I decided to watch this on a whim. I regret it.


Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)

After a video that looks like a Frankenstein attack surfaces, two tabloid reporters are sent to Transylvania to check it out. If they do not get the story, they will lose their jobs. The two reporters are confronted by a cavalcade of crazy locals accompanied by a tidal wave of schtick. The reporters are played by Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley, Jr. who both sound like they would rather be anywhere else. Locals are played by an impressive cast that includes Geena Davis (as a nymphomaniac vampire), Jefferey Jones (as a bumbling mayor), John Byner (as a butler), and Carol Kane (as a brainless maid). Also, Michael Richards is there and is absolutely insufferable. There is a joke every few seconds in the movie but few of them really land for me.

The movie was filmed in Yugoslavia and funded by Dow Chemicals. Apparently, Dow had some frozen assets in the country that they could not transfer out. So they did a little movie to get rid of the money. It really shows. It felt like they were going for an old-school Marx Brothers/Hope and Crosby feel but the jokes and the heart were both missing.

Writer/Director Roy De Luca was actually pretty accomplished but I think he usually had more support. He never directed anything else of note but he wrote screenplays for some Mel Brooks movies and was a staff writer for Carol Burnett, John Byner, Tim Conway, and Marty Feldman on television. I don't know what happened. I didn't think it was funny or scary.

Fun Fact: The movie title (and main recurring joke of the movie) is based on the Glenn Miller tune "Pennsylvania 6-500". This is a joke that was already made in a Bugs Bunny cartoon about twenty years earlier.

Really Fun Fact: Leonard Maltin famously had a one-word review of the movie on Entertainment Tonight. "Transylvania 6-5000 stinks." When interviewed later, he stuck by that review and thought it was one of his best.

[scooter]

The movie was filmed in Yugoslavia and funded by Dow Chemicals. Apparently, Dow had some frozen assets in the country that they could not transfer out. So they did a little movie to get rid of the money. It really shows. It felt like they were going for an old-school Marx Brothers/Hope and Crosby feel but the jokes and the heart were both missing.

Wait, so they just blew the money? I'm gathering there's another tax-related reason going on here...if they couldn't import it back in, they'd just relocate plant there or something.

[WolfofWords]

The movie was filmed in Yugoslavia and funded by Dow Chemicals. Apparently, Dow had some frozen assets in the country that they could not transfer out. So they did a little movie to get rid of the money. It really shows. It felt like they were going for an old-school Marx Brothers/Hope and Crosby feel but the jokes and the heart were both missing.

Wait, so they just blew the money? I'm gathering there's another tax-related reason going on here...if they couldn't import it back in, they'd just relocate plant there or something.

Yeah. There's probably more to that story. I'm curious enough to investigate further.

[WolfofWords]

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/235/article/865285/pdf

Not an entire answer but apparently Dow Chemicals built a 700 million dollar petrochemical plant. The socialist laws of Yugoslavia required a certain amount of profit to be spent in Yugoslavia. They spent about 5 million dollars on this movie and made 20 million back. They should have just given it to charity but maybe there was some legal reason not to.