GHOST HUNTERS

Jamie Lee Curtis made her name in horror movies of the late 70s and early 80s. When you look at the time period and movies she did, that was one busy actress!  Born in 1958 to a famous actress (Janet Leigh) and famous actor (Tony Curtis), Jamie Lee Curtis did some parts on TV and the like before she landed the 1978 eventual cult favorite - "Halloween."  I like to look at her choice to do this low-budget movie with questionable future viewings as a sign of a success in the making. She took opportunities and made them her own. Too many actors look at a role they are being offered and see it as somehow pivotal. "Should I do this role? It might make people pidgeon hole me," or "This part is insignificant." A truly successful trailblazer manages to look at opportunities as stepping stones. Jamie did just that - thankfully. And, she had no idea at the time that taking that role would catapult her favored status. What worked for Jamie was she was attractive to th...

You know you want it. You've had enough heat and humidity and are glad to be releasing the kids back to school. Now, you're getting that nesting instinct to make soups and chili, sip hot cocoa, watch the leaves turn, and get creeped out by the Halloween season. So, go for it! Get your spook on!  This bark candy is perfect for movie watching. Take a cookie sheet and lay wax paper down on it. Now, spread out some pretzels, marshmallows, nuts, candy corn, dried fruit, whatever you want! Melt white or semi-sweet chocolate and add some vanilla or peanut butter, and spread atop of the items. Put cookie sheet in fridge until firm. Then break into bark pieces and put in a container. Now, here's your best "I'm scared in Autumn" movie choices -  The first ones are my favs for horror and autumn concentrated!   "Sleepy Hollow"  This Johnny Depp movie takes place in the full autumn season in an almost surreal and bloodless looking Hudson Valley. You can almost h...

Modern horror movies have unfortunately done something to viewers--taken us as far as they can go with desensitizing us. Since we longer jump and cringe at ax murders, then they eviscerated and tortured people. When that newness wore off, they tried gruesome killing after gruesome killing, each more over the top than the last. The problem is, they no longer hit our horror G-spot . Like porn and the use of a vibrator, it takes a bit more and more and more to stimulate and eventually, one builds up a tolerance.  Horror was never about the killings or the torture so far as it was about the unknown  (in other words what they didn't show us, not what they let us see--everything) . The real horror is not in witnessing death, but in the  not knowing what will happen . If you see a dark room and hear creepy music, your mind fills in the appropriate terror that works on you instead of someone spoon-feeding you your fright. Our minds are truly the best scriptwriters when it comes ...

Sure, there's King Kong, Godzilla, Cloverfield, and Aliens, but what about monsters that are human-like?  Sometimes, those are the most horrifying because we assume they also have our intelligence and ability to plot - Pan's Labyrinth This monster was seriously disturbing. It was the combination of something that should not occur -- eyes should never be in the palms of one's hands! It makes it just distorted and surreal enough to horrify. The Descent This is probably one of my favorites of the human-like monsters. The concept of humans evolving inside of caves with possibly night vision, and slimy pale skin, just disturbs, and the bat-like ears don't help to make me any more comfortable. 30 Days Of Night Absolutely the best vampires in a movie ever! They were human but distorted and they were not charming or sexy, just pure soul-less feeding machines.      Dead Silence This movie was a gem and the concept of this woman's ghost takin...

It's not easy to find similar feeling horror movies just out of the blue, but it helps when someone guides you to ones you maybe didn't know about that have that same "tone," "theme," or "feel." If you liked the ` group of people fighting something in an isolated location ' theme such as   "Night of the Living Dead,"  you might like... "Food of the Gods."  This 1970s flick has people trapped and fighting against mutant giant rats in a country home. "The Descent."   A group of women go spelunking and get trapped with some kind of humanoid beings chasing them and turning against each other. "The Happening."  Nature has it in for citizens and a group of friends gather together to escape, only to find few places to hide. "The House of Evil."  (Richard Crenna) A psychiatrist wants to open a new clinic in a big old scary house with an evil history. Soon, the clean-up crew of friends is trapped. "...