Scary Movies 2011

It’s that time of year again.  Unfortunately, we’re kind of in the middle of a move, so my typical holiday classics of “Halloween,” “Alien” and “Hocus Pocus” are packed in boxes at the moment.  Therefore, I’ve got Netflix to help me out in this time of transition.

I made Brooke watch “Scream” last year, as she’d never seen it before. To be fair, I hadn’t seen it in years either, but watching it for what was probably the fourth time, it still held up and was quite good. I didn’t particularly care for “Scream 2,” and “Scream 3” was overly terrible, but the reviews for their fourth outing earlier this year were surprisingly positive. “Scream 4” came in the mail late last week, but I didn’t get a chance to watch it until Sunday night. I can safely say that “Scream 4” is right up there with the original. The question of “who the killer is” became easy to answer as the series moved forward, but this flick does a good job of drawing that final reveal out further, so while it may be obvious early on, the ending itself isn’t as certain. If you liked the original, I highly recommend this one.

Never seen it and it’s been in my Instant Queue since last year at this time, but still haven’t gotten around to watching it. It’s a remake of the 1973 George A. Romero flick of the same name about the effects of biological weapons testing near a small town in Pennsylvania. The 2010 remake is now set in Iowa and deals with a “mysterious toxin” that infects their water supply, leading to zombie-like behavior. Obviously, we wanted to watch this because it was set in Iowa. Now that we’re moving, it seems like the appropriate time to watch it.

Red State” is fascinating to me, not because of the subject matter, but the way it even came about. In short, it’s about a group of teens doing what your typical horror movie teens do (drugs, sex and rock & roll), and how they get lured in by fundamentalists looking to make an example of them in a particularly violent and gruesome manner. Kevin Smith (of “Clerks” and “Mallrats” fame) wrote and directed the movie. He even got the movie financed and distributed himself, partially just to prove that it could even be done by a single individual or small company, without the help of a major distributor or movie production company. In many ways, it was a return to his roots in “Clerks,” famously filmed for $27,000. Regardless, I’m fascinating by this movie. It’s very existence is so odd, self-produced/marketed/written/directed by a guy that is famous for making movies about “dick and fart jokes.” Looking forward to it, for sure.

Finally, “The Thing.” I like throwing in some classic scifi/horror movie when possible, especially one I haven’t seen before (gasp!). This one’s also on Netflix Instant Queue, so you can’t argue with convenience. This one is by John Carpenter (who also did the aforementioned “Halloween”) and it’s actually a remake of 1951’s “The Thing From Another World.” Of course, now that it’s 2011, it’s time for another sequel (or prequel…) to come out, though this latest iteration isn’t getting the best reviews. Regardless, I’ve never seen it and it’s sitting in my queue, so I don’t have much of an excuse anymore.

I think that’s a reasonable list.  I’m sure others will pop in there, as well.  I don’t start the new job until November 1st, so that gives me some free nights to watch some scary movies over the next week.

4 Replies to “Scary Movies 2011”

      1. We’ve been watching a few Voyager episodes when there’s nothing else on the tv. I’ve been reminded of why we kinda quit watching that show for a time…….. Like where B’Lana (sp?) was split into two people, a Klingon and a Human? I have soooo many questions about how they could do that!!! 😉

        1. When I re-watched it on Spike TV a few years ago, I found more than a few not-so-good episodes. At the time, though, I was seeing that whole 6th season for the first time, as our cable provider in Columbia (at the time that season was on television for the first time) removed UPN, or something like that. The Borg stuff definitely “focused” the series a bit better and gave it a few different directions to use.

          But I’ve re-watched all of “Voyager” recently enough that I don’t need to revisit all of them again for quite awhile. Definitely some good episodes in there to pick and choose between!

Comments are closed.