Oh, The Horror! #17: The People Under the Stairs

Huh. Another Wes Craven movie that I had a great time watching. I guess I should look more into his stuff. I mean, I know he's a horror legend but previously I've only seen the Scream franchise (the first one was the only one I really liked as a kid) and Nightmare on Elm Street which I watched recently and really could get into. But my same god bro, Rony, who introduced me to The Serpent and the Rainbow, presented this one to me and my brother and I had good fun watching it. One thing that really made it a fun was just how original and rather outlandish the characters and ideas were but made it even creepier in a way that you can actually see it happening. The world is a scary world we live in. And the thought that crap like this can happen despite the absurdity is just... wow.

But yes, the movie is about a young boy, nicked-named Fool, from the ghettos of his city who finds out that he is being evicted by his money hungry landlords while his mother is sick and bed-ridden of cancer. His older sister is dating a man named Leroy who comes up with an idea to go into the landlords house and steal some money. The problem is that they do not know is that the landlords are crazy and seem to have "children" that they lock up in the basement who are all deformed due to their punishment. Some have gorged eyes, cut off ears, etc. All look like weird pale monsters and are fed pieces of meat from people who pass by. They also have a young daughter who is very pure and innocent but is punished by her "parents" due to their impossible standards of purity. If she speaks, hears, or sees evil, then she is damned to hell. The "parents"/antagonists are damn CRAZY! The father runs around in BDSM gear shooting the walls with his shotgun in hope of killing Roach, a child who runs inbetween the walls, while the mother is as over the top and insane shouting as she holds up a knife yelling, "Go to hell!"

So now Fool and Leroy are trapped in this house where it's literally built as if it were a prison. Locks everywhere with traps while being hunted down by a large hungry rottweiler. It's a crazy cat and mouse game that just puts you at the edge of your seat and has you cheering, afraid, and laughing your butt off. This is definitely a movie I would recommend and not have originally watched. So I guess I'm saying don't pass it down. Also, I found out a remake of this may be coming out. I'm not too sure how I feel about that as I feel this movie should be it. A remake would certainly not be able to recapture the weird charm of this entertaining flick. So yes, good fun weird film.

Oh, The Horror! #16: Let The Right One In

I first heard about this Swedish vampire movie on a few message boards a few months ago. Every review and opinion I've read essentially praised it so I indeed was interested. Why wouldn't I be? I like vampires. But yeah, a week back my brother told me that he was planning on going to see "Let The Right One In" and I immediately took interest and told him I've been meaning to see it. So for my birthday (2 days ago) I decided we should see it the day after and was hoping to have a guy's night out with some of my best buds although most of them wasn't able to make it so it was just me, Berto, and Lebert "TeardropJones." Overall, the praises the movie was getting I would say is pretty much justified. The movie had a lot of heart to it as it's essential a story about alienation and a boy finding a connection with a girl who moves in next door who is revealed to be a vampire. The boy, Oskar, is constantly picked on at school by a boy and his crew and Eli, the vampire, gives Oskar confidence to finally stand up to him. Also, Eli basically becomes his best friend and his girlfriend. Seeing their relationship grow through each day is very interesting to watch despite Eli's thirst for blood which causes a big set of problems and events in their Sweden town which includes the death of a few townsmen and infecting someone else into becoming a vampire which later leads to a fantastic scene with cats. You'll have to see it for yourself to see why that scene was simply amazing.

I wish I could say more on the story but the story is very simple that saying much of anything else would surely spoil something and I wouldn't want to do that. It isn't like other vampire movies, it's really more about two outsiders befriending, accepting, and being there for each other. Although rather slow in the beginning, the story begins to really pick up when Eli's thirst really starts to come into the central plot. There were also some fantastic special effects. A few that took place in a hospital and one amazing one in the end when Oskar has his final confrontation with the bullies. I found it to be a really heart-ful ending and was beautifully shot. I can see a few film lovers buying the DVD just for those final shots of the confrontations with the bullies.

So yes, if you can definitely check out this movie. I looked up some stuff online and saw that it was previously a novel and there were a lot of themes that were omitted from the movie. And there's suppose to be an American version coming out which is supposedly suppose to be remade from thebook rather than the Swedish movie. We'll see how that comes out although my brother and I are a bit iffy about that.

I'll leave a final quote that Lebert said when we exited the theater that gave me a good chuckle, "Man, movies like this is what makes me think about being a vegetarian."

Oh, The Horror! #15: Serpent and the Rainbow

Man oh man! Where the heck have I been to have never heard of this movie until last night? For a little while now I've had a bit of an interest in learning some stuff on Haitian folk lore. I feel that there are many types of stories that can be seen as pretty darn scary back in my parent's homeland and I'm always interested to hear a story from the country. So when my god brother told me about this movie, it taking place in Haiti, I was automatically intrigued. My brother, Berto, and I watched the movie and just had an absolute blast. You should have seen the way we were freaking out at a lot of the scenes, mostly because it seems to hit close to home with us. Let me tell you that Haitians are some of the most superstitious folks you'll ever meet and a lot of things about the supernatural is driven into our minds since being very young. Heck, I lived there for a short while too. So a lot of the things in the movie scared some bit of craps out of me watching, not in jump out of my seat thing, but more of a mentally fear thing. And I loved every moment of it.

Bill Pullman plays a doctor who goes to Haiti to find the reasons why a once buried man is now walking around again. Of course, he's a man of science but he also gets haunted by these strange and extremely freaky dreams and we are introduced to the villain of the story played by Zakes Mokae And let me say that I do not understand why this guy isn't in a top villains list. This guy played no games whatsoever and was damn terrifying as he led his group of Ton Ton Machutes, a special police force in Haiti who are known for being quite... well...unlikable. As the movie goes on, we are pulled into the world of voodoo and zombies. And the movie just gets freakier and freakier. I can definitely see this movie scary folks from even visiting the country. So much twists and turns, enough to keep you at the edge of your seat and frightened for the main character and his love interest. And that torture scene. Oh man! When they strapped Pullman's character on the torture seat, I said to my brother, "Oh no! Haitians DO NOT PLAY when it comes to torture." And man, was I right. Sheesh. Another thing I loved about this movie was it being shot on location and hearing the Haitian language being spoken throughout. Everything seemed very authentic and helped with the creepiness. Fantastic movie that I fully recommend for horror fans. Below is a trailer.

Oh, The Horror! #14 : I Am Legend

What if you were the only man alive left in NYC?

I saw this movie when it came out and thought it was merely okay. I didn't enjoy the experience though due to annoying ass girls behind my friends and I who saw it fit to talk and give their own commentary throughout the whole movie. But anywho, that's besides the point...

I watched it again a few days ago this time with my baby sister and still can't seem to decide if I enjoyed it or not. I really loved the first hour of the movie with Will Smith doing his daily routines along with his partner-in-crime and best bud, Sam, his canine. He exercises and goes hunting for deers to eat in NYC. Oh, did I forget to mention that he's the only man alive in the city? He's walking around everyday, picking out movies to watch, and talking to mannequins. He also broadcasts on the radio a message out to any survivors out there. At home he's trying to find a cure for the disease that wiped out about 90% of people in the world with not much luck. One day on another hunting trip, something goes wrong where we are introduced to the Darkseekers, vampire-like creatures that only come out at dark in search of survivors to devour. The story really begins to pick up though is when Smith's character, Neville, captures a female Darkseeker to experiment, not knowing she was in fact the alpha female of her group. This leads to an intense rivalry between him and the alpha male of the group. And man, lemme say that it is intense and one of the most fun watching in the movie. Despite all that, the movie starts to take a bit of a downfall during the second half of the film. We find out that he just may not be the only man on Earth when he meets a woman and her son and a lot of the intrigue just seems to disappear from me. Also, a story of faith and God just appears out of nowhere. I didn't quite mind that part of the movie, bu I can understand how people may feel confused as to why it just appeared and seemed rather ham-fisted into the story.

The effects are alright, not great. I remember reading originally the Darkseekers were played completely by people until director, Francis Lawrence, decided to just turn them CGI. I think that was a bit of a mistake as they looked, well... very CGI. I believe that it took some edge and creepiness off of the Darkseekers themselves. Although once again the Alpha Male is just simply bad-ass.

Overall, I don't think I'd recommend this film fully. There's aspects I loved, especially the first half and I loved Smith in this movie. I absolutely loved his last scene in the film store. You really felt for him and understood his state of mind at that point of the movie. Man...

Oh, The Horror! #13: Sleepy Hollow

Man, it's been darn long, hasn't it?!? Now that school is over just for a month, hopefully I can bring this back on track. I've missed doing this. But yes, without further ado... SLEEPY HOLLOW!



Another one of my absolute favorite movies and another directed by my favorite film maker, Tim Burton. I've seen this movie quite a lot of times. When I had gotten the VHS, I've watched it so many darn times and hardly ever missed when it came on TV. A few weeks ago was the first time I've seen it after maybe 2-3 years and I still have a great time watching it. The imagery, the characters, Johnny Depp as Crane, the music, special effects, everything is an absolute blast to watch. Watching this movie always made me wonder what happened to horror. Why don't we ever get more horror movies like this? Now its all slasher this, etc. How come we never get any real solid story-telling with supernatural forces scary the daylights out of us? I want to see more movies like this and really showcase just how great horror film is rather than what;s clouding people's mind of what horror is. I don't mind what people proclaim as "torture porn" or whatever, but it's not the only type of horror in the genre. C'mon, now!

But anywho, if you've never seen this movie, you just HAVE to. The direction is absolutely amazing with a story that never lets go of you. All the characters play wonderful parts and just fascinates you into this mystery of the Horse man. If you're a fan of the classic tale by Washington Irving, I think you'll have a blast watching this interpretation besides quite a few liberties being taken, such as Crane being a constable instead of a teacher, and although still a bit of a coward he has the brass balls to stand and fight against the Horseman himself! And c'mon, who doesn't love Christopher Walken who plays the Hessian, the man who ends up becoming the head chopper. Although we know who the killer is, there is a mystery conspiracy plot throughout the movie as we wonder just how people are connected in this strange town of Sleepy Hollow and just why the Horseman is going after certain folks and why he lets certain people live. The special effects are magnificient. It's not a man wearing a cloak over his shoulders, but an actually man... headless! And he see him chopping off people's necks and cutting a man in half. The effects are just simply amazing and adds to the creepiness and chills of the movie. And Danny Elfman's music... ah man is it ever so nice to hear him with Burton adding more creepiness to this film. And to top it off, you get a wonderful performance by Miranda Richardson who I have to say really steals the show along with horror alumnis Michael Gough and Christopher Lee with small parts.

There is one thing that I do find weird about this movie and that's the flashbacks and dreams we see of Crane's character. Those scenes I have to say are probably the most beautiful scenes in the movie, but I don't quite understand why they're in the movie. They seem to not play much of any roles besides to look awesome. Like the scene when his mother is dancing in the forest and begins to float and finding out that his mother is a witch and his father was actually a man of faith, a minister. In one specific dream, when his father walks past a young Crane, the man turns into the headless horseman. Huh?

Heh, but anyway. Fantastic movie. Definitely a top of Burton's best.

Sippin' Poet #6: The Drifted and Fallen

You involve a gun
A bullet to my head
No darkness ever left
To a loser with no lead
A lover with no land
Without a moment's purpose
While my mind's a tangled circus

A falling pedal ripped away from time's time
And a dreamer's life is now gone inside
Because the life has come undone
Been years since we've won
A trophy for our times
Hardships tearing us apart
With pain of some sort
Angry tears to masquerade
Some grief, a wall of hurt
Crashing us like waves
Keys to a stone's heart
And my voice is now ignored

No, I am not ignored!
Oh, I hope you are annoyed!
Enter in to feel my hate
I'll be crushing out your air
Tell me now what's fair
Tell me now, my dear
Are we now what's fair?
Are we now, my dear?

...And it's gone
You're leaving me
It's all leaving me
Leaving me alone
So I guess that this is...

Sippin' Poet # 5: Agan

There is no courage, there's no speak
But I have a duty inside of me
I've read you right but that was half
Where do I go from here?

Where do I go from here?
Should I just talk and stare?
Let the new go through fear?
Is there nothing inside in there?

There is a sign, maybe a reason
A much noted smile, must be a new season
Walking through streets and stairs to feed
Seats up in levels for a time to eat

Another losing speeding ball
How must I catch?
Another time, another fall
I'm on and latched

So where do I go from here?
What's the remark?
Is there nothing inside there?
Or should I just march?