Tag: Horror Movie

Retro Horror Movie Night: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street. Classic.
A couple of weeks back, a few friends and I gathered for another retro-horror-movie night. The lucky film this time? Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. If you can believe it, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street was released on November 16, 1984, which is about 27.5 years ago. That certainly dates me- I was 3 years old at the time! Sure, there have been many sequels over the years, but the original holds a special place in my heart. And by special place, I mean that I remember being scarred from it as a child. Yes, I was desensitized to horror movies at an early age, but I turned out fine. I think.
I probably watched this movie when I was < 10 years old. How could this NOT scare me!
SPOILER ALERT! If you have yet to see this movie and you’re dying to, don’t look at the following screen caps. With that said, the awesomeness and cheesiness of the movie can’t be captured in the images, so you should watch regardless :D.
Intrigued? Go watch the movie. Watch it now.
According to the IMBD entry: “In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.” Sounds about right. That spectral child murderer, Freddy Krueger, was a horrifying sight for me as a kid…. his burned, evil appearance… his hat… his glove of knives he uses to slash his victims… followed by blood that goes everywhere. Eek! And that song: 
Curse these children and their freaky jump-rope-while-singing scene!
“One, Two, Freddy’s coming for you,
Three, Four, better lock your door,
Five, Six, grab your crucifix,
Seven, Eight, gotta stay up late,
Nine, Ten, never sleep again.” 
It isn’t easy to fall asleep when you’re a child with this song stuck in your head, especially when you think Freddy is going to kill you in your dreams. Yikes!
Freddy kills in your dreams. It’s best you don’t fall asleep.
Drowning in the tub is also not good.
Even years later, I feel that that A Nightmare on Elm Street still has some frightening moments, especially in the scenes where Freddy is chasing his victims. However, the 80’s rock music played during the supposed scary parts really detracts from the fright. And the acting was pretty bad. And there was a lot of cheesy dialogue. And the fashion was a bit off, but what do you expect from the 80’s. At the end of the day though, it’s still a classic and I love it!

There’s no escaping Freddy Krueger!
Personally, I find this freaky.
Apparently, when you’re burned by a lynch mob, your blood turns green.
For the 80’s, this scene was quite impressive!
The interesting thing I found out was that A Nightmare on Elm Street was the movie from which Johnny Depp got his start! A quick IMBD search and elementary mathe-magical subtraction reveal that he was 21 at the time of the movie’s release. Crazy talk! He does meet his demise in the movie, and Wes Craven made sure he wasn’t coming back.
This is where it all began…
Nancy and Greg (Johnny Depp). He’s 21 here!
This doesn’t look good.
He should have known- sleeping is bad when Freddy is around.
Johnny, noooooo!
What happened to him…. ?
Oh he dead. Yep. He dead.
Funniest part of the movie? After the main character, Nancy, loses her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp’s character), she gets a suspicious phone call. Why suspicious? Because the phone is unplugged! Omg. But she answers it anyway.
Nancy: Hello?…
Freddy Krueger: I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.
Then this happens…
Freddy’s tongue from the phone receiver. Awesome!
Just brilliant. I would love to comment about the very end of the movie too, but I don’t want to spoil everything on here. Needless to say, it involves the following chilling scene. For this scene alone, I highly recommend watching A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Omg, what happens next?? Watch, and you will find out…

Retro Horror Movie Night: Child’s Play (1988)

Child’s Play: 20th Anniversary Edition
Last night was fantastic. Friends Paul and Vanessa invited me over to their place for a movie night. And this was not just any movie night. You see, Paul and I had been reminiscing about the movie Child’s Play for quite some time. We both remember watching it during our youthful years, and it scared us both quite a bit. Child’s Play was released in November 1988, which, assuming I saw the movie shortly after its release, I would have been 7 or 8 years old at the time. That’s right folks, Child’s Play was released about 23 years ago *sigh*. Anyway… surely a ‘horror’ movie that frightened us as kids would still be totally freaky, right? And since Vanessa hadn’t seen it, surely she would be scared by a doll who comes to life and kills, right?? Well…. let’s just say we weren’t scared at all, and there were a ton of laughs throughout the night! The movie was amazing…
Original Poster: “Child’s Play: You’ll wish it was only make-believe.”
Just so I don’t completely ruin the complex plot, the brief synopsis is that a criminal (Charles Lee Ray), trained in some kind of dark ‘voodoo’ arts, transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll. A boy, Andy, wants this doll for his birthday… but when he gets it, little does he know it’s alive! The story begins with the typical doll pleasantries: “Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” But soon things take a turn for the worse. Chucky wants revenge. And he wants to kill. 
Andy is so excited about the new Good Guy doll! Lucky for him, he gets Chucky.
“Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” Dolls should not be alive. Crazy freaky.
But he wasn’t excited for very long. Especially since Chucky started killing people.
There’s something about horror movies from the 80’s and early 90’s that I love. They’re all quite cheesy. They usually have some weird supernatural element to them. And when you watch them years later, you realize how bad the acting was. And yet, there’s a special place in your heart for these movie gems :).
Chucky’s signature roll in the movie. Only dolls who are alive can drop and roll.
This movie is so fake.
Chucky tries to transfer his soul into Andy’s. Well naturally.
He doesn’t want to be a doll forever!
Andy’s mother, Karen, really is the rock in this movie. She will do anything to protect her son. She will also try her best to protect the useless cop, Mike. Here’s one of my favourite scenes:
Beat-down! Chucky is about to totally club Mike with a  baseball bat.
Karen will do whatever it takes to protect her son and Mike.
So Karen shoots Chucky in the leg…
And he goes flying…
And flying…
And flying.
But he’s persistent, and gets right back up for more killing.
One of my favourite lines in the movie occurs when Andy is about to torch Chucky in the fireplace:
Chucky: “Andy, nooo. Please. We’re friends ’till the end, remember?”
Andy: “This IS the end…. friend.”
Brilliant. Whoever wrote the script deserved an Oscar. Something tells me, though, that the writer never received an Oscar for this movie.
“Andy, nooo. Please. We’re friends ’till the end, remember?”
“This IS the end… friend.”
But is it really the end? *suspenseful music*
As great and amazing as this movie was to watch, the acting was sub-par. I know he’s just a kid, but Andy’s acting was hilarious! Out of curiosity, I wondered what ever became of the actor who played Andy in the movie. The all-knowing Google came to my rescue. Turns out that after Child’s Play 2 and some other movie, he quit acting. But like all child stars, they resurface at some point. Also, I found out that the actor who played the terrible cop, Mike, is Chris Sarandon, whose first wife was Susan Sarandon, which is how she got her last name (born Susan Tomalin). Who knew?
From TMZ. Alex Vincent as Andy in Child’s Play, 20 years or so later.
So what’s next on the retro horror movie list? Maybe Pet Cemetery (1989). Or if we’re looking for something legitimately scary… A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Last I remember, that movie was SCARY!
A Nightmare on Elm Street. CLASSIC!

“Here’s Johnny!”

That’s pretty much all I know about Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Well, that’s not true. I sort of know the story, but it surprises me that I’ve never seen this movie! Which is why I added it to my list of 31 before 31. And that’s why I purchased it through Amazon for a whopping $6.15. So now I really have no excuse :). Time for a movie night!