Halloween (2018)

I remember when I was barely 10 years old when the original John Carpenter film classic came out in the theater's. Of course, my folks would never allow me to see it but only 8 years later when I went to college and saw it on the big screen at a midnight Halloween showing I was completely blown away! What an intense and exhilarating experience! And, Jamie Lee Curtis, the original Scream Queen herself giving a performance of a lifetime.

Now, nearly 40 years later, director/writer David Gordon Green along with his fellow writers, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, have created a true and worthy sequel to the original based on the premise that none of the films after the original exist. This idea paid off in a big way! And I'm so glad for these writers and the director's boldness in taking such a leap!

From the very opening scene to the eerie credits, all those memories from when I first saw the original came flooding back and I was hit with a lot of emotion, in a good way! What a fitting tribute to John Carpenter's original vision as well a new vision for today's audiences!

CLICK HERE

As Jamie Lee Curtis mentions in the video (click on the link above) that this film resonates today with the Me Too movement and women and men taking back their lives from past trauma's and saying No More. I will take back control of my fate and will not allow myself or anyone to turn me into a victim ever again!

Jamie Lee Curtis gives the performance of her career as the traumatized Laurie Strode, who, 40-years later, finds herself as the victim, having nearly destroyed her daughter's life with her obsession with Michael Myers, who randomly chose her and nearly killed her and actually succeeded killing her closest friends. This film is not only a homage to the original, but it brings back the terror of what random terrorism is and puts you "the audience" in the front seat to witness the horror.

Director, David Gordon Green pulls no punches, but still manages to not focus on the blood and gore, but on the brutality of someone like Michael Myers. A brilliant modern masterpiece of horror that proves that this genre can still produce great work and not stoop to "pulp" and almost "pornographic" type of entertainment that has so long soiled this genre. Thank you David Gordon Green for producing such a work of integrity and a great horror masterpiece!

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Let The Right One In

Once again, An Other Theater Company has produced an incredible production that has gone beyond anything they've done so far!

Director's Christopher Clark and Morag Shepherd have taken this stage adaptation of the John Ajvide Lindqvist novel of the same name and truly have produced an artistic and theatrical gem. A hauntingly disturbing yet beautiful production!

The basic premise is a young boy who is being taunted viciously by schoolmates is befriended by a young girl who isn't what she appears to be.

Come see what that is and be taken in by this incredible and haunting story! The entire ensemble work so well together and deliver stunning performances all around! Deep and soul searching performances that left this audience member in emotional tatters by the end of the play. I love thought provoking theater like this and I am so proud of An Other Theater Company for having the courage to do theater like this! If you love Halloween and eerie entertainment don't miss this spectacular production! The word is out though, performances are selling out quickly. An Other Theater Company is becoming the theater to compete with in Utah County. The audiences that are craving new and innovative theatre are flocking to this little theatre company. Please come and support this type of theatre in Utah County. It is so needed!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Beautiful Creatures

Day 11 of my Halloween Film Fest. Out of my entire list this year, this is one of my personal favorites, my "Sleeper." I remember sitting by myself in a darkened theater viewing this film and falling in love with it minute by minute. I feel, personally, this is one of the most beautiful Horror/Romance films of all time. A thrilling and bewitching tale of love in the face of the battle between good and evil. This film will always have a special place in my heart.

Director & Writer, Richard LaGravenese has put together an incredible story along with a fantastic ensemble cast. The incredibly handsome Alden Ehrenreich (Solo-A Star Wars Story), Alice Englert as Ethan and Lena, the star crossed lovers who are destined to meet but find themselves separated by fate. A tale as old as time. They are surrounded by a superb supporting cast: Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Viola Davis, Margo Martindale and Emma Rossum.

If you haven't seen this gem, do it now! You will fall in love with it as I did! It is a beautifully done adaptation of an awesome novel (which I recommend as well)!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Hocus Pocus

Day 10 of my Halloween film fest. This has to be, hands down, my all-time favorite horror comedy. And this one only Disney could have pulled off! Where can you go wrong: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy. 

Director, Kenny Ortega along with writers, Mick Garris & Neil Cuthbert, have created a horror comedy classic for the ages in true Disney fashion. I'm sure that if Walt Disney were still alive he would have loved this film!

The basic story, if you happen to be one of the rare few that haven't seen this gem, is about three witches who upon trying to drain the life of Salem's children are caught and brought to justice and hung for their crimes, but not before Winifred Sanderson, the eldest sister, places a curse upon Salem that one night they would be brought back to life to get their revenge. Well they get their chance, and hilarious mayhem ensues!

There is not one weak performance in this wonderfully fun film from beginning to end! I always have to sit down and watch this classic every Halloween! It combines all that is great about the classic horror genre, witchcraft, full moons, black cats, zombies but at the same time pure Disney comedy magic combined in with it all!

Do yourself a favor and revisit this wonderful Disney classic!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - The Stepford Wives

Day 9 of my Halloween Film Fest. I remember when I was much younger seeing the original version of this based on the novel by Ira Levin, who not only wrote the screenplay to the horror classic, "Rosemary's Baby," but also one of the greatest thrillers for the Broadway stage, "Deathtrap." It was your typical 1970's B movie which had it's terrifying moments and the idea, particularly back in 1975, was very controversial and horrendous.

Skip to 2004 when this Frank Oz directed re-make of this film, and he takes it down the "Horror Comedy" route to perfection. Even today, this re-make is still relevant along with the original film. This film got a huge backlash but I loved every single moment of it. Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman were fantastic as Joanna & Walter, a Manhattan society couple who, after Joanna has a mental breakdown after being fired from a major television network, move to an idyllic town in upstate Connecticut called "Stepford." But all is not what it seems in this town. Thus begins a strange tale that you have got to see to believe.

The rest of the supporting ensemble: Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Roger Bart and John Lovitz make this delicious Horror Comedy treat a delight to watch. I personally feel that Frank Oz and screenwriter Paul Rudnick (In & Out) have taken this B movie gem and turned it into a Horror Comedy classic. I really enjoyed it this time around re-visiting it! You will too!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - So I Married An Axe Murderer

Day 8 of my Halloween Film Fest. It has been real fun re-visiting these films this past week and this one is no exception. I have always been a huge fan of Mike Myers from SNL but when this film came out back on the 30th of July 1993, I will never forget it. This Horror Comedy classic was a sleeper hit and wasn't what I expected.

It really felt like a normal romantic comedy until the last 25 minutes of the film. It then turned so dark, so quickly, and it was so much fun to finally find out the "real" story.

Mike Myers plays a free-lance San Francisco poet who meets a quirky butcher played by the wonderful Nancy Travis when coming into her shop to get some haggis for his mother for family dinner. The rest I will leave for you. With a great supporting cast including Mike Myers doubling as his father, the wonderful Brenda Fricker, Amanda Plummer, Anthony LaPaglia, and great cameo's by the late-great Phil Hartman, Charles Grodin and Steven Wright.

This Horror Comedy defies all conventions of the genre, mixes in romantic comedy elements, and gives you a quirky and goofball movie going experience. It was so much fun to watch again. Do yourself a favor and watch this one!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Gremlins

Day 7 of my Halloween film fest. This was another Horror Comedy classic from 1984, premiering on the 8th of June 1984, the same day "Ghostbusters" came out, which by today's standards would be considered risky, but it did farely well alongside it and it is considered a classic as well. Of course, this alongside "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," which came out a month prior, led to the MPAA creating the PG-13 rating.

A young boy named Billy, played by Zach Galligan, receives a present one Christmas Eve from his father, played by the wonderful Hoyt Axton; a tiny, very cute creature called a "Mogwi." The young Chinese boy his Dad buys the creature from warms him that you can't expose him to bright light (sunlight will kill him), expose him to water, and never feed him after midnight. Well things don't go as planned, and mayhem ensues.

This movie is a bit  darker than "Ghostbusters," but Steven Spielberg (Producer) and Joe Dante (Writer) created a fun and spooky romp, a tribute to the B-movies of the 1950's and 1960's. Setting it at Christmas time gives it even more of a twisted climate.

This film is definitely an 80's film but is still holds the test of time IMHO. It was so much fun watching it last night after a long hiatus. I had so much fun, like I did when I first saw it in theater's. You will too. The supporting cast: Corey Feldman, Phoebe Cates, Frances Lee McCain, Polly Holliday, Harry Carey, Jr., and Dick Miller all create a fantastic ensemble. This will be the most fun you've ever had being scared!