Category Archives: Collector’s Den

TV Guide Spotlight: TV’s Spookiest Halloween Episodes (DVD)

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TVGuideSpotlightMill Creek Entertainment comprises five hours worth of Halloween episodes from some of their flagship sitcoms, and though it’s a mixed bag, it’s also a fun treat for the holiday. For folks that want to ring in Halloween without the gruesome horror entertainment, you’ll find some really great specials here, some of which I’ve seen at least a hundred times over. I can’t imagine a better greatest hits DVD for families this year. Featured on the DVD is the season two episode of “Roseanne” entitled “Boo!” where the Conner family rings in Halloween, while Roseanne and Dan wage a prank war on one another to see who is best at gruesome and funny pranks. This is a hysterical one shot for the series, and it was never quite topped.

The “News Radio” episode entitled “Halloween” from season three is equal parts funny and weird. When the staff isn’t invited to their boss Jimmy’s famous Halloween party for being killjoys, they decide to get in to the spirit. Meanwhile boss Dave upsets girlfriend Lisa by wearing her dress as a costume, as Phil falls for an old woman at the party. It’s a fun episode that the writers are never afraid to be surreal with. The “Married with Children” episode from season eight is entitled “Take My Wife, Please.” It’s a play on the classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” where Al wishes he were dead and is visited by the Grim Reaper who resembles Peg, much to his horror. On “Bewitched,” the episode “A Safe and Sane Halloween” finds Samantha and Darrin getting a normal mortal Halloween with daughter Tabatha, who brings to life three monsters from a Halloween book. “I Dream of Jeannie” features the episode “My Master, The Ghost Breaker” where Tony inherits a mansion that is said to be haunted, not realizing the former help and the lawyer of the estate are trying to scare him out of ownership.

“The Jeffersons” two part episode “Now You See It, Now You Don’t” George competes with Tom and Ellen as comedy icons for Halloween, while putting up with the landlord’s rotten children. Meanwhile, Louise accidentally witnesses a man in a bunny costume murder someone on the street, prompting everyone to believe Louise was hallucinating. When he turns up, he seeks to kill Louise and silence her. The “Square Pegs” episode titled “Halloween XII” finds characters Patty and Lauren invited to a Halloween party with the popular crowd only to find they’re being terrorized by someone outside, intent on ruining their night. The season five episode of “The Facts of Life” features the group horrified to find out Mrs. Garrett’s bakery was once the home of a vicious crime scene, and they soon begin to worry she might be possessed by the ghost of a serial killer. “The Cosby Show” episode “Halloween” features the Huxtables trying to outdo one another with unique costumes, while Vanessa tries to build the courage to talk to a boy during a party.

On “Mad About You” the episode “Unplanned Child” finds Paul and Jamie having to babysit his ten year old nephew. Jamie has to take him trick or treating though when Paul is held up at work editing a film. The “3rd Rock” episode “Scaredy Dick” sees character Dick running out of a medical appointment, while Sally and Tommy house sit and try to thwart trick or treaters from egging the house. There’s the “Ned and Stacey” episode “The Halloween Story,” in which a costume mix up causes Ned and Stacey to make out. Finally, The Halloween episode of “That 70’s Show” features the group visiting an abandoned school to tell ghost stories but when they find their old permanent records secrets begin to rise to the surface, Fez is astonished by the concept of Halloween, and Kitty thinks back to the Halloween when she found out she was going to be a mother. It’s a hilarious book end to a fun compilation.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): 40th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]

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TCM40Forty years later and there’s still nothing like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Not a single film no matter how brutal has managed to be as unsettling and nerve rattling as Tobe Hooper’s masterpiece. It’s astonishing how Hooper’s master work hasn’t aged a day and still retains much of its raw guerilla filmmaking aura. The man and the cast suffered to make his horror thriller about maniacs in the South, and it shows through every single film cell.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is a horror film I not only respect, but revere, if only because it bears such a realism to it that feels as if Tobe Hooper let loose a bunch of lunatics on an unwitting cast of actors. Much in the realm of Ruggero Deodato’s “Cannibal Holocaust,” there’s the sense that Hooper clings very closely to reality, and covers every single aspect of this vicious environment. You can sense the thick stifling heat, the horrific confusion and chaos, and Leatherface. Leatherface is still the wild insane rabid dog let off of his collar, free to roam as he pleases. Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface is still a terrible force of nature who spares no one, and inflicts immense punishment on the flower children.

It’s interesting to see how Tobe Hooper doesn’t just provide a flawless masterwork of horror, but also manages to depict a very rotten and disgusting environment by sight alone. Every aspect of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” feels very aged and filled with years of decay, and Hooper is a master at creating so much out of very little. Hooper’s horror film is still an iconic artifact in grade A horror filmmaking, as well as building an entire narrative around chaos and pure anxiety. From Sally’s forced attendance at the family dinner, to her insane cackling in the final scene of the film as she bathes in blood, director Tobe Hooper’s film takes on a pulse all its own that’s yet to be duplicated or rivaled to this day.

The 40th Anniversary Edition comes with four audio commentaries. There are about six hours worth of commentaries, with director Hooper sitting down with the surviving cast and crew of the film. There’s an audio commentary with Director/Writer/Producer Tobe Hooper, Actor Gunnar Hansen, and Cinematrographer Daniel Pearl, there’s a second commentary with Production Designer Robert Burns and cast members Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, and Paul A. Partain. There’s an audio commentary with Tobe Hooper, and finally a commentary with Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Editor J. Larry Carroll, and Sound Recordist Ted Nicolaou.

Any Given Sunday (1999) 15th Anniversary Director’s Cut [Blu-ray]

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Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday” is a film that literally anyone can watch. Because while it’s certainly a sport films centered on the industry of football, its central themes are relatable to anyone. While on the surface it’s about business and athletes, and competing, mainly “Any Given Sunday” is about a group of people trying desperately to out run the clock of time, and gain some sense of security for their future before father time catches up on them. When we meet these people in the narrative, many of them are at the beginning of their short careers trying to build a future, while others find their windows of opportunity closing and desperately cling to any chance to secure their future for themselves and their family. Stone composes a very richly defined ensemble drama about the football industry and how demanding it is both as an arena for skilled athletes, and athletes anxiously trying to bank on the momentum of their popularity, as fleeting it may be.

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The Slave (1969) [Blu-ray/DVD]

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It’s really tough to approach “The Slave” (also known as “Check To The Queen”) on a level where you would an average film. By all respects, Pasquale Festa Campanile’s drama is a unique and surreal drama based around a sadist-masochist relationship. For a long time I’d all but been convinced that “Secretary” was as good as film of this ilk got, but “The Slave” comes close to conquering this small sub-genre well. Pasquale Festa Campanile’s film is solely based around a young girl whose own lust for pain and humiliation is rivaled by her unusual obsession with her vanity.

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Marvel Knights Animation Presents: Eternals (DVD)

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It’s mind blowing how mind numbing “Eternals” is. The really bad John Romita Jr. art matched with the convoluted dull story make this animated comic a task to sit through. Granted, I love the idea of normal human beings actually being engineered superheroes and completely oblivious to their powers. There’s also a moment where a party is besieged by terrorists and character Mark Curry discovers his ability to slow down time, thus allowing him to stop the bullets, and steal the guns, but has to find a way to take the bullets without burning himself or blowing them up in the air. It’s a nice sense of logic to fantasy.

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Marvel Knights Animation Presents Eternals (DVD)

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It’s mind blowing how mind numbing “Eternals” is. The really bad John Romita Jr. art matched with the convoluted dull story make this animated comic a task to sit through. Granted, I love the idea of normal human beings actually being engineered superheroes and completely oblivious to their powers. There’s also a moment where a party is besieged by terrorists and character Mark Curry discovers his ability to slow down time, thus allowing him to stop the bullets, and steal the guns, but has to find a way to take the bullets without burning himself or blowing them up in the air. It’s a nice sense of logic to fantasy.

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Blended (2014) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

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“Blended” is part old school Adam Sandler and new school Adam Sandler. It has the same dumb, pointless, physical humor, with the modern “family is everything, you’re nothing if you’re single” sentimentality that’s permeated like self righteous stink through his later comedies. To make the affair even more grating he teams up with Drew “nails on a chalkboard” Barrymore for a third time. The cynical side of me thinks that they teamed up again to complete a trilogy of pairings for a potential special edition release of their comedies. But the obvious seems to be Sandler re-visiting the well hoping for another hit. It’s just sad that never translates in to memorable entertainment. “Blended’ is a family oriented dramedy that’s never original, nor does it pose any sense of Sandler thinking outside the box in his early films.

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