Trailer of the Day: The Beast Within

Ok, I know it's cheating a little since I had this trailer along with The Manitou, but I finally saw this wonderful little gem and thought it was only fair it got it's own post, because this movie is batshit insane!

So as we all know, old horror movies are NEVER as good as the trailer (well except for THIS), but The Beast Within comes pretty close. I sat down expecting a slow, boring, monstrosity of a werewolf movie and instead got a slow burning, mean-spirited, nihilistic masterpiece!
The trailer is actually somewhat accurate too! I mean the end transformation scene may be a little hyped up, but the movie really does draw you in close only to knock you out in the last 30 minutes. If only the monster looked less rubbery...

Trailer of the Day: Zombie 2

It looks like I unintentionally took the summer off, but now I'm back, WITH ZOMBIES!!!

Ahhhhhhh, the infamous Zombie 2. In case you're not "in the know" there technically is no Zombie 1. Lucio Fulci decided to cash in on the success of Dawn of the Dead (which was known in Italy as Zombie) by making a sequel or prequel or something. Although, I don't remember the zombies from Dawn of the Dead being this disgusting...

For such a mayhem and gore packed movie this trailer makes it look like the most boring thing this side of sliced bread. Of course, that's actually pretty representative of 80's Italian horror. One minute your falling asleep and the next your all like "HOLY SHIT THERES A ZOMBIE FIGHTING A SHARK!!!1!!1".

Trailer of the Day: El Topo

YEAH! Now this is what I'm talkin' about! I flipping love this film! Although The Holy Mountain is considered by many to be Jodorowsky's best film, I happen to be partial to this one. After all, El Topo is one of the greatest horror cowboys ever (tomorrow I bring a list of the top 10 horror cowboys, I know you've all been waiting for it).
Now I know that, much like The Holy Mountain, El Topo  is not quite horror, but it's complete strangeness makes up for it's lack of outright horror elements (although it does have it's fair share of horrific moments...).

If you doubt the awesomeness of El Topo, just watch the trailer again and listen to the first line. "Be prepared to  live the most wonderfull experience of your life.". HOW CAN YOU ARGUE WITH THAT?!?

Trailer of the Day: The Holy Mountain

Now I know that this isn't quite horror, but The Holy Mountain  is quite possibly the most bizarre movie you'll ever see. It is without a doubt Jodorowsky's masterpiece but, in my opinion not his best film (that honor belongs to El Topo). I wasn't joking yesterday when I referred to this as Symbolism: The Movie. Make no mistake, this movie is pretty much all insanity and symbolism. Not that that's entirely a bad thing, I'm sure a lot of people have gotten a lot of different things from this movie, sometimes though it does come off as a bit heavy-handed.

I will give it this though, it's inspired a lot of musicians from Beck to System of a Down to write trippy songs referencing a trippy movie. Go back and watch the trailer around the 1:53 mark, then watch the video below around the 1:36 mark.


I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!

Finally I'd like to note that I love how the trailer proclaims "The Holy Mountain  is a movie outside the tradition of cynicism or review". Riiiiiiiiiiight. Well, 70's announcer guy, I'm reviewing it (sort of), HOW YA LIKE THAT!

Trailer of the Day: Santa Sangre

I was really surprised with how sane this movie was, which, also surprisingly, left me feeling a tad disappointed. Not that it's not weird as hell, mind you, it's just the other two Jodorowsky films that I've seen make David Lynch look like Michal Bay. I did appreciate that it had a fairly traditional structure to it, and it wasn't just Symbolism: The Movie (much like Jodorowsky's other works).

That said, let me reiterate that Santa Sangre, despite resembling a normal movie, is totally bizarre. Prepare for amputees, elephant funerals, and children being tattooed. Bizarre.

Trailer of the Day: Mother's Day

Okay, a little late I know, but enjoy a belated Mother's Day with the trailer for a terrible and overrated movie which shares the name of the holiday!

Trailer of the Day: Evil Dead 2

Let me finish off the trifecta of movies I watched repeatedly as a child with Evil Dead 2. If there was any movie my dad rented more then House, it was...well it was probably Last Action Hero, but Evil Dead 2 was still pretty close.

There's not much to say about EV2 that hasn't been said a million times before, but I would like to know that unlike other "classics", this one is always fun to watch. What a groundbreaking observation, right?

Trailer of the Day: House

Much like yesterday's entry, when I was a child I found this movie to be both horrifying and totally strange. Unlike yesterday's entry this one is still pretty freaky.
There's actually an odd parallel between this and The Gate in my childhood. When I lived with my mother I  watched The Gate  a lot, but it was mostly just because it was on T.V. a lot. Later, when I moved in with my father, I watched House a lot. This was mostly due to my father's odd preference in movies. My dad is the toughest movie critic I've ever met, but when he finds something he likes he will watch it over and over again, which is why we watched  House a lot. Lucky for me this is actually a pretty awesome movie!

The trailer does a decent job conveying the weirdness in this flick. It doesn't really give any indication that it's pretty funny too, which something I didn't appreciate till I watched it as an adult (young me just wanted monsters).
On another note, something else I didn't realize till later in life, is that the score was done by Harry Manfredi of Friday the 13th fame. I've only recently watched my way through Friday the 13th series and since all of Harry Manfredi's scores sound the same, I kept feeling like I was watching House. Every time Jason jumped out of nowhere to murder someone I just felt relived that it was only Jason and not some horrible lovecraftian monstrosity.

Trailer of the Day: The Gate

I applaud this trailer for making The Gate look almost as bizarre and terrifying as it was when I was 10. If I remember correctly they played this movie on channel 5 about 600 times a week during the summer, which is odd considering how grotesque this movie is.

I would also like to proudly proclaim that I now own this movie on DVD. Unfortunately, now that I am an adult, it's not nearly as scary as it was when I was a child (or scary at all for that matter). It is, however, still very bizarre. I'll admit it's little rough around the edges, but I think in an odd way being able to tell how fake some of the effects are adds something to its unique brand of weirdness. With a bigger budget and maybe some better writing this might have ended up as more than just a cult classic amongst children of the 80's. If any movie ever needed a remake, it's this one!

Trailer of the Day: Shining

I had always heard this movie was scary, but I found it to be quite heart-warming!

Trailer of the Day: Troll 2

Ahhhhh, the infamous Troll 2, often times labeled the best worst movie. As a connoisseur of terrible movies, I unfortunately have to dispute this title. It makes me die a little inside when I realize that I can think of at least 4-5 movies off the top of my head that are far worse than this.
Not that this is good movie, there are just many other far worse horror movies (see Trailer of the Day: Boarding House). Even outside the realm of horror other movies have it beat. Have you ever seen Battlefield Earth? John Travolta shows up within the first 15 minutes dressed like a Klingon, sounding like Pee-Wee Herman and shoots a horse with a laser beam. If that's not a recipe for a great movie, I don't know what is!

Wait, are we still talking about bad movies...

Trailer of the Day: Troll

I haven't seen this in probably 15 years, but I remember it being one of the most awesome (awesomest?) movies ever. Watching this trailer as an adult I'd have to agree with my younger self as it does look quite awesome, but this might be for different reasons than I would've thought as a kid.
I always thought it was cool that it was a horror and fantasy movie rolled into one. Looking at it now it seems alot more fantasy than horror, especially compared to other fantasy/horror movies like Pan's Labyrinth. It's  also interesting to note that the main character is named Harry Potter Jr. and he uses magic to save the day. Prolific!

The trailer is one of those "were just going to show you everything" trailers. Why bother paying attention to the plot when you can just watch the trailer first! This one especially goes out of it's way to lay out all the details. Maybe alot of people were showing up to movies late around the time this came out and the filmakers thought they were helping people out by showing them all the important plot points ahead of time.

Trailer of the Day: Twilght Zone: The Movie

This movie scared me beyond belief when I was a kid. For years I found Dan Aykroyd to be a terrifying and mysterious individual. Even when I saw Ghost Busters I kept expecting him turn onto a ghost or something...

On another note this is one of the most uninteresting trailers I've ever seen. I can understand not wanting to give away anything about the movie, since each segment puts alot of stock in the "twist", but still.

I was pleasantly surprised this week to find out that all of the original Twilight Zone (except for season 4 for some reason) is watchable on netflix instant watch. I'm currently marathoning my way the series and am happy to report that it's even better then I remember it.
During the summer when I was a kid, there was a station that would play two episodes of the Twilight Zone followed by two episodes of the Outer Limits (a show that was vastly inferior, yet often compared to, the Twilight Zone). One of the highlights of my summer vacation was sitting around with my grandmother and watching 3 hours a day of wonderfully bizarre classic television.
When I'm finished season 1 I'll have to post a best of/worst of list.

Trailer of the Day: Monsters

This could have also been called "Not your dads giant monster movie". Quiet and suspenseful, it's more about the people than the titular monsters, and even though said monsters are far and few between, they're still pretty awesome (and keeping them out of sight makes them much scarier). Jurassic Park came to mind several times watching this, not just in presentation but also in how the monsters acted. Like watching dinosaurs they never seemed malevolent, just very large dangerous animals.

The trailer represents the film pretty well, but still makes it seem a little too action packed. Not to mention they show all the best non-dialogue parts of the movie.