PODCAST! HALLOWEEN WATCH 2018 FINALE! "The Thing" (1982) w/ Jamie and Ryan

Watched:  09/30/2018
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  Unknown.  Eighth?
Decade:  1980's

After 20 years of avoiding watching The Thing (1982) Jamie decides it's time to watch the movie and then get in front of a microphone. We discuss a modern horror classic, and what it's like to finally see a movie you've heard so much about (and maybe built up a bit in your imagination).



Music:

Bride of Frankenstein Theme - Franz Waxman
The Thing Main Titles - Ennio Morricone
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - The Carpenters
Swan Lake - Act 2: No. 10 Scene - Tchaikovsky


Playlists:

Featured:  Signal Watch Halloween 2018

• Amy and Ryan Watch 50 Shades!
• Bond Watch!  James Bond movie discussion
• Avengers Chronological Countdown w/ Jamie and Ryan
• Disney History w/ NathanC and Ryan
• High School Movies w/ Maxwell

Get your audio episodes at:

Halloween Hammer Watch: The Mummy (1959)

Watched:  10/25/2018
Format:  TCM/ DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's

I thought I'd seen this movie before, but I had not.  But, boy howdy, did I like it - weird British Imperialistic dismissal of other cultures and all.  The movie is The Mummy (1959), part of Hammer's slate of Universal Horror remakes from their 50's and 60's boom era.

LIVE WATCH WITH THE SIGNAL WATCH! NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!!! FRIDAY - 9:00ish Central!

Night of the Living Dead (1968) is a movie everyone should have in their collection and/ or have access to.  It's got all sorts of copyright failures that mean everyone owns it and no one owns it.

This year is the 50th Anniversary, plus it's Halloween-time, so let's watch the movie that launched a 1000 imitators and a whole culture around re-killing dead people.

I was going to try to do a videoconferencing thing, but I've realized that everyone's TV's playing the movie out of synch is just going to be a nightmare, so until we sort out how to watch the movie together, we're still LIVE TWEETING.

• Movie:  Night of the Living Dead
• Time:  9:00 Central, Friday October 26th
• hashtag:  #getbarb
• to find me:  @melbotis

Where to watch:

• Amazon Prime
• Filmstruck (currently having a free trial)
• YouTube

We'll talk:

1. unpredictable effects of cosmic phenomena
2. why none of us care if Barbara gets it
3. how it's kinda nice all the zombies are dressed nice from their funerals
4. the complexities of what it means for a bunch of dead people to come back as proposed in this film versus other films
5. casting a Black lead in 1968
6. why one should always keep a good shovel around
7. brains: yes, delicious, but - also nutritious?
8. why Dawn of the Dead is also pretty spiffy
9. what is the most depressing element of this movie?
10. why I'd become a dictatorial monster inside of five minutes of a zombie apocalypse
11. what to do when you awkwardly run into a zombie who is someone you used to know

Cocktails:

Well, I'll be drinking, you can count on that.  But I'm not making any recommendations.  Both the Corpse Reviver and Zombie cocktails are delicious and require too many ingredients I don't have.  So, people, just do what you know.

Noir Watch: The Gangster (1947)

Watched:  10/23/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade: 1940's

Halloween Wacky Watch: Beetlejuice (1988)

Watched:  10/21/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  Unknown.  Fifth?
Decade:  1980's

What to say about Beetlejuice (1988) thirty years on? 

I didn't actually see the movie until sometime after 1995 when Jamie and I started dating and she realized I'd never seen it.  Which, honestly, it was weird I hadn't.  I liked Tim Burton a lot, as well as Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara and other parts of the film that I knew about. 

But now I've seen it a few times, and every time I like it more.  It's just good, chaotic fun with some great ideas that all work well on screen, fun performances and terrific FX. 

Anyway, I don't have a ton to add here.  You've all seen the film, and if you haven't, it's a good family film (if the kids are a bit older).  So, sit back and enjoy Michael Keaton before he became respectable, early career Alec Baldwin, and the wonder that is Geena Davis.  PLUS terrific appearances from Robert Goulet, Dick Cavett, Susan Kellermann, Sylvia Sidney, of course Winona Ryder, Glenn Shadix and Jeffrey Jones and O'Hara. 

PODCAST! HALLOWEEN EDITION! "The Night of the Demon" (1957) and "The Haunting" (1963)

Watched:  Curse of the Demon 09/27/2018 & The Haunting 09/28/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming/ BluRay
Decade:  1950's and 1960's
Viewing:  Second/ Seventh or so


SimonUK and Ryan wind up their Halloween movie discussions by taking on two movies about scientists (and friends) coming up against the supernatural - is it all in their minds, somehow? OR is it ghosts and demons?!! It's bone-chilling look into what works in two horror classics, and some discussion of stuff in other movies that's just annoying.



Music:

Bride of Frankenstein Theme - Franz Waxman
Blue Ghost Blues - Lonnie Johnson
Science Fiction Double Feature - Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Stroker Ace - Charlie Daniels Band
Swan Lake - Act 2: No. 10 Scene - Tchaikovsky


Playlists:

Featured:  Signal Watch Halloween 2018

• Amy and Ryan Watch 50 Shades!
• Bond Watch!  James Bond movie discussion
• Avengers Chronological Countdown w/ Jamie and Ryan
• Disney History w/ NathanC and Ryan
• High School Movies w/ Maxwell

Get your audio episodes at:

Hammer Horror Watch: Horror of Dracula (1958)

Watched:  10/20/2018
Format:  Filmstruck Streaming
Viewing:  Unknown.  Second?
Decade:  1950's

Hammer Horror Watch: Twins of Evil (1971)

Watched:  10/19/2018
Format:  Amazon Prime Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1970's

Twins of Evil (1971) is the third in the Karnstein Trilogy of vampire films from Hammer, the two previous films included The Vampire Lovers (which I really liked) and Lust For a Vampire (which I swore I'd rewatch more closely and haven't done, so...  I'll get on that).

Where Wolf? Watch: Wolfen (1981)

Watched:  10/19/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1980's


Well, I finally managed to watch Wolfen (1981) instead of The Howling.

Out West for 11 Days

On Sunday the 7th I jumped an aeroplane and headed to Salt Lake City for a conference and meetings at the University of Utah Libraries.

If you've not been to SLC, it's kind of an amazing town. It's new, of course, and Mormons like to make sure things are nice for folks, so the whole place is well laid-out, clean as a whistle, full of friendly people and has things like public trains and buses and bike lanes.  I mean, it's all that Blue Velvet "if there's bad stuff here, you know it's super @#$%ing not-mundane bad"-bad, but aside from low-percentage booze beer, I found few quibbles with the city.