A small group of friends head out to investigate a witch known as The Hawthorne Hag in an effort to catch her on camera.
Tag Archives: Witches
Sorceress of Suburbia (2011)
Director Fred Olen Ray has had one of the weirdest movie careers I’ve ever seen from any director. It’s not many filmmakers that can ride the tides of various trends creating softcore porn for basic cable, erotic thriller, cheapy horror movies, and then goofy Hallmark Channel Christmas movies in one career. Fred Olen Ray gets shit done, I guess, and “Sorceress of Suburbia” is one of his many forays in to the porn sub-genre.
The Banana Splits in Hocus-Pocus Park (1972)
Before they became hacking and slashing horror movie characters (?), “The Banana Splits” were a niche kids program from the seventies. They were performers dressed in animal outfits that performed original pop rock like “The Monkees” and got in to various misadventures. They’d also show various animated shorts during the program. While I was never personally a fan, “The Banana Splits” were so much more interesting than “The Monkees” ever were. Their animated Halloween special is also one of the highlights of their television life, even if you’re not a fan.
Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacula (2022)
I usually have a lot of awful to say about modern Looney Tunes, but “Looney Tunes Cartoons” has at least tried to honor the legacy of the Looney Tunes. Say what you want about Warner’s handling of the Looney Tunes library but “Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacula” really isn’t half bad. It’s actually a pretty decent attempt to conjure up the spirit of the classic Looney Tunes as we remember. It has its finger on the pulse of the comic timing and classic raunch we know and love about the old shorts. It’s funny that Bugs Bunny gets the title of the program since he only has one short in the end of the program, meanwhile Porky has two that he shares with his usual foils.
Mickey’s a Tale of Two Witches (2021)
“A Tale of Two Witches” is a weird special in that it involves Mickey telling the story that becomes the center of the entire short. There’s no reason why we have to keep jumping back and forth from Mickey telling Pluto the story, and getting to the story. I don’t know why this couldn’t have been just a stand alone Halloween tale. In either case, “A Tale of Two Witches” is a fun and simple Halloween special that has a good time celebrating the holiday.
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
“Hocus Pocus” has managed to become a huge cult classic since its initially slept on release in 1993. When you release a Halloween movie in the middle of the summer, you kind of expect the movie to flop. But years since its release, movie fans alike have caught on allowing it become an absolute classic. And I for one love “Hocus Pocus.” I loved it since I first saw it on VHS back in 1994. “Hocus Pocus 2” seemed like a far fetched idea until 2022 when there seemed to be potential for a follow up. With “Hocus Pocus 2” you kind of have to meet it halfway. It’s a follow up but it’s different than the original movie. That doesn’t make it bad, it just makes it a different movie and experience altogether.
BAD MOVIE MONDAY: DEADTIME STORIES (1986)
The review I did for RISE OF SKYWALKER was a bit serious and gloomy. So I’m going to lighten things up a bit and talk about something fun this time. Today’s review is for a movie called DEADTIME STORIES, a horror anthology from 1986 that retells twisted versions of old fairy tales. Well, kinda. They do Little Red Riding Hood, and they do Goldilocks and The Three Bears, but the first story about witches isn’t really based on anything specific. That’s okay though, there’s enough nudity and gore in all three of these stories to make up for any disappointment that we’re not going to be getting a story about Humpty Dumpty as a serial killer or something. The film stars Scott Valentine as Peter, Nicole Picard as Rachel, Matt Mitler as Willie, Cathryn de Prume as Goldi Lox, and Melissa Leo as Judith “MaMa” Baer. It was directed by Jeffrey Delman. It was written by Delman, and J. Edward Kiernan, and Charles F. Shelton.
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