Tag Archives: Halloween

Night Of The Demons (1988): Collector’s Edition [BluRay/DVD Combo]

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Director Kevin Tenney loves Halloween, and it’s never made more clearly than during the “Night of the Demons.” The 1988 horror film is still a fun and hilarious horror comedy that doesn’t just embrace its horror tropes, but celebrates Halloween as a whole. From the pumpkin in the opening shot to the book end sub-plots involving a crabby old man preparing for trick or treaters, “Night of the Demons” is a perfect film for a Halloween party, and just a downright fantastic summary of why the eighties were such an unabashed festival of novelties for the horror genre.

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The Fright File: 150 Films to See Before Halloween (Digital)

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The main flaw to “The Fright File” is that author Dustin Putman only offers three films out of 150 made before the seventies. A portion of the list are films made in the seventies, while most of the films are from the aughts and are as recent as 2013. While I don’t mind being given suggestions for films as recent as 2013, I wouldn’t have minded stumbling on to a hidden gem or two. For folks looking for a primer on films that are essential to horror fans, “The Fright File” surely isn’t a bad book. But for horror fans looking to discover something new and completely out of left field, this isn’t really the book to turn to. That is unless you’re a fan of Dustin Putman’s writing, and want to see his thoughts on various horror films.

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Mischief Night (2013) (DVD)

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Director Richard Shenkman’s “Mischief Night” isn’t exactly the most original horror films ever made. It garners elements of “Ils Them” and “The Strangers” with a dash of “Scream.” And let’s face it, we’ve seen a ton of movies about blind women being tormented by someone in their house, the best of which was “Wait Until Dark.” But what the director does with the film is entertaining and often times very compelling, and that’s mostly thanks to the very powerful performance by actress Noell Coet who lends the film’s heroine strength, wit, and a fierce independence that becomes her saving grace.

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All Hallow’s Eve (2013)

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Ever since “The Collective” got together to make their own anthology series revolving around demonic VHS tapes, every indie director has been attempting to cash in on the formula. “All Hallow’s Eve” is yet another take off on the concept, except it’s set around Halloween! A hot nanny (Katie Maguire) and two of the worst child actors in history have come back from trick or treating, and the nanny discovers an odd unmarked VHS tape in one of her charge’s trick or treat bags.

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I Luv Halloween

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Well, I never expected “I Luv Halloween” to be so… unusual. Surely, I was expecting a demented bit of Halloween celebration within a three volume graphic novel, but the Tokyo Pop tale of a group of kids who trick or treat no matter what, is kind of compelling. Compelling in that it’s often gory, sick, twisted, and features a group of children that take Halloween more seriously than I do. How often do you see a small girl bash a kid’s head in with a large rock with a bra, and pulling out his teeth joyfully after he steals her candy? Molars, yay!

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Halloween II (1981)

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There was no need for a sequel. I don’t care how good Michael Myers was as a character, there was no need to further the misadventures of Michael and Laurie. I would have loved to see what the writers would have mustered up with their idea for a “Halloween” anthology movie series, but sadly, we were given “Halloween II.” As a sequel it’s not a bad film, by any means. It just takes the opposite direction of the original film by turning Michael in to a hack and slash killer, rather than a force of nature. Instead of Michael receding in to the night to await his next rumble with someone tasked by fate, Michael is not quite done with Laurie just yet.

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

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I really love that if producers were planning on engaging us in an anthology of horror films that they’d include elements from the holiday to incorporate in to a movie. I think with enough out of the box thinking, there could have been at least six movies about the horrors of Halloween or Samhain. But then this was the eighties. Audiences didn’t want out of the box. They liked it all boxed up and easy to consume. “Halloween” had a Halloween masked killer stalking babysitters during Halloween night. And here’s “Halloween III” about the idea of sacrifices and samhain all thanks to an… evil Halloween mask maker. And his army of robots.

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