Dark Star

Some early John Carpenter. Before there was ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK or THEY LIVE (or even Dan O'Bannon's ALIEN), there was... DARK STAR!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Star_%28film%29

Random Geekery

Okay - some random thoughts from a certified HALLOWEEN movie franchise geek. I love these movies (well, John Carpenter's original through HALLOWEEN 4 - with a soft spot for part 6), and often have completely random thoughts about the greatness of the early entries and how the later ones could have been improved upon. Here's one example of a random thought I had the other day:

This is actually a long running observation that I've had for many years now, related to the opening scene of the original 1981 version of HALLOWEEN II. You'll recall that film started with the oldie tune "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes (a song referenced again in HALLOWEEN H20.) Similarly, every time I hear the 1964 tune "A Summer Song" by Chad & Jeremy I always think now that's a song that should be used in a HALLOWEEN movie! Read the lyrics with Laurie Strode and Michael Myers in mind, giving the beautiful lyrics a slightly sinister undertone, and decide for yourself...

They say that all good things must end some day
Autumn leaves must fall
But don't you know that it hurts me so
To say goodbye to you
Wish you didn't have to go
No no no no

And when the rain
Beats against my window pane
I'll think of summer days again
And dream of you

They say that all good things must end some day
Autumn leaves must fall
But don't you know that it hurts me so
To say goodbye to you
Wish you didn't have to go
No no no no

And when the rain
Beats against my window pane
I'll think of summer days again
And dream of you
And dream of you


Rob Zombie made a habit of recycling oldie standards in his craptacular HALLOWEEN movies, alas, this one wasn't one of them - but I would have loved to hear this in HALLOWEEN H20 as it seems to fit the vibe of that film perfectly (but as we know, that film had its own recycled soundtrack).

To listen, click below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D2XD341xHo

They Live

"Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!"

--Preacher, THEY LIVE (1988)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/

Bedtime Story

Came across this on deviantart. Click to see more.

Stellar.

THE THING: THE MUSICAL

A little something to help you through the cold days ahead...

Come On Dave

Everything I need to know if life I learned from John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. Here's a splendid little tribute video someone made for this underrated gem to help kick off your work week in style.

A Rant

WARNING: The Following Blog Post Is A RANT!

Specifically, this is a rant about Halloween music, and its targets are two-fold. Understand: this is nothing personal against Cassandra Peterson - AKA Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. I'm sure she's a very nice lady. I am equally as sure that Ms. Peterson probably loves Halloween just as much as the rest of us. However, in my mind, she represents all that is commercial and phony about the darkest of holidays. The enemy embodied, so to speak. She has given a face to all the corporations that have exploited and capitalized off the ancient celebration of Halloween, Hallowe'en, All Hallows Even, Samhaim. To be even more direct: I can appreciate a good horror host. If she were only in that role, I could be more forgiving - who doesn't like a buxom, bee-hived, valley-girl, Vampira-esque bombshell introducing cheesy B horror movies? But when she was let into a studio to record 'music' for Halloween, that's where I draw the line! Her compilation albums are so obnoxious, so horrendously banal, and have so little to do with the whole point of this ancient tradition, that it I try to dissuade anyone I see picking one up off the rack while shopping.

Part 2.

I said this rant was two-fold, and here's the sequel: as much as I despise everything the Elvira character stands for, there's a corporate entity that idolizes her and thinks she's hilariously campy and completely Hallow-rific! If you've ever heard of MUSIC CHOICE on cable television, you'll know what I mean. Music Choice is a cable option you can pay for to let you listen to music on your TV. The problem is: they tend to have a limited play-list, meaning they play the same songs over and over and over. Now it would appear that this is a problem for them when it comes to Halloween, for unlike Christmas, there haven't been a lot of Halloween albums released by pop artists over the years - you simply won't find A JOHNNY MATHIS HALLOWEEN, or ROBERT GOULET SINGS HALLOWEEN. Not understanding (or caring) that there have been over fifty years of horror soundtracks to pick and choose from, or that groups like Midnight Syndicate have released fourteen years worth of music to sample, they instead choose to go the Elvira route and compile their playlist almost exclusively from her catalog. Sure, you get the occasional classic thrown in - almost by accident, it seems - Danny Elfman's 'This Is Halloween,' John Carpenter's score for Halloween and Halloween II (but not for the terrific Halloween III or any of Alan Howarth's scores for the later sequels); or a rare Midnight Syndicate track about once a week - so here's a quick, helpful suggestion for the folks at Music Choice:

Purple People Eater has nothing to do with Halloween. Michael Jackson's Thriller has nothing to do with Halloween. The Itsy-Bitsy Spider has nothing to do with Halloween. Dr. Elmo's Redneck Drac has nothing to do with Halloween. Bessie Smith's The Devil's Gonna Get Ya has nothing to do with Halloween. Anything Voodoo related has nothing to do with Halloween. Witchy Woman by the Eagles has nothing to do with Halloween. Evil Ways by Santana has nothing to do with Halloween. Anything recorded by Elvira has nothing to do with Halloween (as hard as that may be to believe). The Chipmunks have nothing to do with Halloween. Crazy Fever by High Noon has nothing to do with Halloween. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman by The Tubes has nothing to do with Halloween. Louis Armstrong's You've Got Me Voodoo'd has nothing to do with Halloween. Night Train by The Kills has nothing to do with Halloween. Martian Hop by the Ran-Dells has nothing to do with Halloween. And for the love of all that's unholy - Maneater by Hall & Oates has NOTHING to do with Halloween! The list goes on and on...

Twofer

Two great pieces of news this morning! #1: Joss Whedon's THE CABIN IN THE WOODS has finally got a release date - it's a long way out, but it's out there! How does Friday, April 13th, 2012 sound to you? I was personally hoping for the October release date that was rumored, but man, either way I can't wait for this one - this is the flick that has sat on Lionsgate's shelf for eons, but now it's finally getting it's chance to go crazy in the woods on our sick and twisted minds. Yeeehaaah! It's about d@mn time, Lionsgate!

The other great piece of news is that the remake of John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK has been deep-sixed by New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers! This is great news for us fans of the original Snake Plissken movies who only want to see Kurt Russell in the role of the one-eyed anti-hero. Keep in mind though that the rights have lapsed from these two studios, but that doesn't mean another studio won't snatch it up and try to make it happen. Let's keep our fingers crossed that short of an original Snack flick (ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH, maybe? John Carpenter - are you listening?) we don't need or want another remake of a beloved classic!

H:III Redux

Saw this on Pumpkinrot's blog awhile back and couldn't get it out of my head. Still one of the very best themes that John Carpenter and Alan Howarth ever produced. Here's what Howarth had to say about the process:

"The music style of John Carpenter and myself has further evolved in this film soundtrack by working exclusively with synthesizers to produce our music. This has led to a certain procedural routine. The film is first transferred to a time coded video tape and synchronized to a 24 track master audio recorder; then while watching the film we compose the music to these visual images. The entire process goes quite rapidly and has "instant gratification," allowing us to evaluate the score in synch to the picture. This is quite an invaluable asset."

They Live Again

It's about time another cult classic got a bitchin poster treatment from Mondo and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema! This time it's John Carpenter and his vastly underrated THEY LIVE, as designed by artist Shepard Fairey. The posters are 18x24 in size and cost $50 a piece.

This awesome poster goes on sale today at an unknown time (you have to follow @MondoNews on Twitter to find out when) but don't waste any time when it's announced - these posters sell out fast!

Quote of the Day

"Evil hiding among us is an ancient theme."

--John Carpenter

Quote of the Day

"What scares me is what scares you. We're all afraid of the same things. That's why horror is such a powerful genre. All you have to do is ask yourself what frightens you and you'll know what frightens me."

--John Carpenter

I'm on a John Carpenter kick right now - he's perhaps my favorite director of all time, and it's criminal that I haven't reviewed more of his movies yet. Just got done with 'The Fog' and plan on giving either 'Prince of Darkness' or 'Christine' a watch this weekend (maybe both!)