First-time viewings are indicated with an ^
[Show spoiler]09/04/24: Blink Twice ^ (2024): 
Shaun Of The Dead (2004): 
09/05/24: Beetlejuice (1988):
09/06/24: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ^ (2024):
09/07/24: Jaws (1975): Jaws 2 (1978):
09/11/24: The Front Room ^ (2024): [ZERO SKULLS]
09/13/24: Speak No Evil ^ (2024):
09/18/24: Sweet Sixteen ^ (1983): Soul Survivors ^ (2001):
09/20/24: The Substance ^ (2024):
09/22/24: Fright ^ (1971):
09/25/24: Never Let Go ^ (2024):
9/27/24: Terrifier ^ (2016):
09/28/24: Terrifier 2 ^ (2022):
09/30/24: Tarot ^ (2024):
10/01/24: Fear In The Night ^ (1972): Fear No Evil ^ (1981): Werewolves On Wheels ^ (1971):
10/02/24: Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker ^ (1981): Screams Of A Winter Night ^ (1979): The Last Horror Film ^ (1982):
10/03/24
-ParaNorman (2012):
Splendid spooky fare for the whole family finds as our protagonist one Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), an introverted youngster who's gifted with the ability to see and commune with souls that have yet to pass over to the other side (the late Grandma Babcock, played by Elaine Stritch, hangs out on the living room couch and clucks her tongue at the horror trash Norman eats up like candy corn). This ability naturally estranges him from his disbelieving family (worried mom Leslie Mann, apoplectic dad Jeff Garlin, and exasperated big sis Anna Kendrick) and the students at his middle school in the small haven of Blithe Hollow (currently celebrating its 300th centenary), who look at Norman as some sort of a freak. But when Norman's dirty hobo of an uncle (John Goodman) comes to him with the task of taking on the mantle of the one who recites a yearly incantation in order to starve off a curse that has plagued the town for the past three hundred years, he and his gaggle of Goonies-esque kids and teens (including Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the obligatory dumbbell bully) have to band together to suppress a zombie uprising and dig into the town's unsavory history in order to set right an injustice from the past.
From Laika, the inspired animation studio that gave us
Coraline,
ParaNorman is another madly detailed stop-motion opus full of gorgeous visuals, compellingly skewed and/or asymmetrical production and character designs, a spirited voice cast (Casey Affleck gets plenty of laughs as a dunderheaded jock) and a story that gives us the obligatory nostalgic Spielberg/King vibes (crammed with sly homages to horror classics like
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and
Halloween) that deepens and enriches into a surprisingly emotional climax that earns its ugly-cry catharsis. As good as it gets for kid-friendly Halloween tricks and treats.
-
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956):
The sleepy, benign town of Santa Mira, California, is the setting for this masterpiece of science fiction and terror, as Dr. Miles Bennell (an excellent Kevin McCarthy) relates the hair-raising tale of how the town's populace became swept by a wave of paranoia about their friends and loved-ones not seeming completely...
themselves, retaining their familiar appearances and memories while lacking the beat of human emotions. Dr. Bennell is nonplussed by this spate of hallucinogenic fervor, but soon comes to learn the frightening truth that these townfolk truly aren't who they originally were, having their bodies and minds replaced by seeds that have drifted down from outer space and have started replicating the dominant species on the planet Earth, Man, and now have cast their suspicious eyes on Dr, Bennell and his old sweetie Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), and want to make them conform to their new, highly ordered way of life...or else.
Adapted from the classic sci-fi tale by Jack Finney and tautly directed by Don Siegel,
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers remains a potent pop metaphor that still has the ability to grip and disturb the viewer almost seventy years down the line. Seen as a take on the Senator McCarthy better-dead-than-Red witch-hunts of the 1950s, it's a resonant idea that's been remade officially three times (the best being Philip Kaufman's chilling 1978 take, the weakest 2007's badly compromised
The Invasion) and ripped-off in countless productions, but Siegel's film is still a corker, with McCarthy's tightly wound lead performance doing a great job in selling the existential terror of becoming a mindless, emotionless cog in an endlessly grinding machine that only exists to propagate and spread like a malign disease, leaving no room for love, affection, humor...all those pesky emotions that make us truly human. Sporting a terrific score by Carmen Dragon, this remains the cream of the crop of 50s paranoia.
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