Slash Pack

Last weekend I watched "Scream 3." I don't think I had seen it since I saw it in the theater in February 2000. Then last night I watched "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" (which has to be one of the more clever names for a sequel I have ever seen). Why the sudden nostalgia for those turn-of-themillennial slasher pics? I don't know...I found "Scream 3" on my Netflix Instant Queue and was in the mood for some horror last Friday after watching "Texas Chainsaw 3D." As for "I Still Know," I found a copy of that for dirt cheap on vhs and picked it up a while back.

Watching those flicks certainly brought back memories of those times...I was in my first 2 years at Western Michigan University when they both came out. Those were interesting times for slasher pics, as they had been enjoying a new renaissance after the success of "Scream" in 1996-1997. "Scream" showed that smart writing, clever dialogue, a reverence for the classic horror films of history, and a young, hip cast of already established actors could be a formula for success.

Anyone remember how dead the horror film genre was by that point? The iconic slasher franchises from the '80s had died sputtering deaths, with 1995's edited-to-the-point of incomprehensibility "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" being the most egregious of the bunch.

Oh yeah, and Paul Rudd was in it.

"Scream" led to "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Scream 2," "Urban Legend," "I Still Know," and even a revival of the Halloween franchise in the form of "Halloween: H20," where the "Scream Queen" herself (Jamie Lee Curtis) got to pass the torch to a new generation of nubile chickies.

But, like the snake that eats its' own tail, this resurgence in horror soon began to cannibalize itself, and the genre again sputtered out. What was the last movie to be considered a part of this movement? It's hard to say, but I think 2002's "Halloween: Resurrection" may have been it. It featured the young hip cast and dialogue, but it all seemed so stale by this point. So, once again, Halloween killed the horror genre...for a time.

The rest of the 2000s were filled with reboots of old franchises and "torture porn," but that is a blog post for another day. The actors and actresses from the millennial era of horror went on to varying degrees of success after their respective franchises ended, but in their prime they were the bee's knees to fans. They almost comprised what could be referred to as "the slash pack," not unlike the '80s brat pack: Freddie Prinze Jr., Joshua Jackson, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Liev Schrieber, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Williams, Josh Hartnett...they were all featured in the movies I mentioned.

And how many of those movies had posters that looked like some variation of this? All of them.

And let's not forget the music on the soundtracks! Well, some of it was very forgettable, and it was definitely of the times. Such bands as Creed and...um...Creed had songs featured in some of the movies I mentioned. Maybe you remember this angst-ridden, epic, toe-tapper from "Scream 3?"

Oh yeah, one thing "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" reminded me of was my incredible crush on actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. *Sigh*

You're still the one baby.

RANDOM RAMBLING!
I'm a little short on topics of randomness, but one thing I heard this week that I really dug in the music world were the new tracks by ex-Metallica bass player Jason Newsted's new project, dubbed "Newsted." His band is a three-piece with him on bass/vocals and two guys I've never heard of on guitar and drums. Check it out, it has a distinct retro '80s thrash sound to it. Is this what Metallica could have sounded like if they didn't turn into humongous massive douches in the mid '90s? Perhaps.

The Dawn of a New Age

Hey gang, how goes it? I hope everyone had spectacularly kick ass holidays, I know I did. I didn't have as much time off as I would have liked, but that comes with having a new job where you don't have the necessary time off accrued.

So far 2013 has been pretty kick ass. I can't help feeling that there is a different vibe in the air in terms of how people are feeling and doing. It's hard to pinpoint when it started...maybe after the election? But anyway, it's something not only I have noticed but others too. The Canadian Belle works as a cashier at a big box supercenter-type store and she observed that people were being nicer to each other over the holiday season. My mom had a similar observation herself when she was out shopping...people were being more polite to each other than normal.

Maybe these are isolated incidents but I don't know...my mom's theory is that everyone was so happy the world didn't end on December 21 that they're now acting like better people. This theory may have some merit. The Canadian Belle informed me of some astrological info, saying that this is now another Age of Aquarius, and could account for changing attitudes. Maybe. All I know is something is going on, and good things have been happening to me for the last few months. As you know, I recently got a new job with higher pay (I was hired on election night). When my car broke down for good a few weeks later, a friend informed me he was getting a new car and I could buy his. The timing worked out great! Since I'm making more money, I'm paying off more debt, which is of course awesome. More money means more potential to do awesome stuff, and buy sweet collectibles (although I have kept that under control...for now).

And one more thing...some of you may not know this, but I have an 11 year old son from a previous relationship. He lives with his mom in Tennessee so I don't get to see him as often as I would like. Well, after years of not being able to stand being in the presence of each other, his mom and I formally buried the hatchet a week ago and have opened up all lines of communication (instead of using the little guy as the go-between). Now, you could say, "Well, JEP, maybe things are just going your way for once. It doesn't mean there has been a paradigm shift for how society acts." To this I would have to say, "If my ex can extend an olive branch, I KNOW something is up with the world!"

                                           Take it away, cast of "The 40 Year Old Virgin!" 

                                                     Harmony and understanding
                                                   Sympathy and trust abounding
                                                  No more falsehoods or derisions
                                                   Golden living dreams of visions
                                                        Mystic crystal revelation
                                                   And the mind's true liberation
                                                          Aquarius! Aquarius!

Anyway, things are just ducky in my world. I hope you all are feeling the same...and now, what you've been waiting for...RANDOM RAMBLINGS!

RANDOM RAMBLING!
In my last post I mentioned buying a handful of cassettes. I have been busy listening to them, and one thing that has sucked is the quality of some of them has been lacking. I know it's a crap shoot when you buy stuff from thirft stores, and it's not like I'm out a lot of money, but it is disappointing when you wanna rock to something and it doesn't work. The Bryan Adams tape I bought was very hissy sounding, so I had to toss it. I kept the little liner notes though and hung them up in my basement cavern, so it wasn't a total loss. The Al Corley tape had a problem when I tried rewinding it...it would not rewind past a certain point on the tape. Weird. I kept that one though, for it's pop culture schlock value. 

So far, the tape I have enjoyed the most was Winger's debut album. First off, I love this album cover. It might as well say in neon, "This came out in 1988!"

My friend John would describe this as "artwork you would expect to see in an '80s dentist office."

Most people would disregard this as pop-metal drivel, but these guys were talented. Allmusic gave this album 4.5/5, and they're a record reviewing web site that usually knows what they're talking about. They had this to say about them:

"Since Winger was marketed largely on the looks of lead singer Kip Winger, and since their sleazy rockers and lovelorn ballads cover the same old pop-metal territory, the band's high-quality musicianship tended to get overlooked. Guitarist Reb Beach earned wide praise from other musicians, and he, ex-Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgensten, and keyboardist Paul Taylor, bring a distinct progressive metal influence to many of the tunes on Winger. Even if the lyrics are standard issue, the album is impeccably composed, crafted, and played, with melodies, riffs, and guitar solos taking off in unexpected directions and keeping the listener slightly off balance -- no easy task in the cookie-cutter hair metal genre."

Little known fact: Reb Beach formed a band with King's X front-man Doug Pinnick called the Mob. They had only had one album, which was released in 2005.

Looks like Stewart was ahead of his time.

RANDOM RAMBLING!
Staying with the topic of music, one of the awesome gifts the Canadian Belle bestowed upon me for Christmas was the autobiography of Gregg Allman which came out this past year, titled "My Cross to Bear." I'm about 1/4 of the way through it and it is a good read so far. I love Gregg's writing style; like Ozzy's autobiography, he writes the way he speaks. A lot of sentences end with words like "man,"or "brother." It almost creates the illusion that he is having a conversation with you. I have read some great stories in this book so far, one of which is when Gregg met the Doors. My favorite part of the book though was the story of how he shot himself in the foot to get out of the draft. Now that shit is hardcore!

I'm looking forward to reading about his short-lived marriage to Cher. I'm sure there were some fireworks involved in that relationship!

RANDOM RAMBLINGS!
You know what old school character actor I like? George Kennedy. He's been appearing in season 12 episodes of "Dallas" I have been watching lately as Carter McKay, and I enjoyed his airline trouble-shooter character Joe Patroni in the "Airport" series of movies from the '70s. You may also remember him from "Creepshow 2" and "The Naked Gun" movies. He carried a certain gravitas, and his presence dominated any scene he was in. His booming voice commanded repsect. And he had bad breath.

I first recall seeing him in the '90s doing commercials for "Breath Assure." He never went anywhere without it!

RANDOM RAMBLING!
On Friday I saw "Texas Chainsaw 3D" with my buddy Shane from high school. We're big horror buffs, and spent many hours watching the various '80s slasher franchises and cult classics of the '70s back in the day. It was a pretty decent flick overall. The best thing about it was how it picks up right at the ending of the original one from 1973, after a montage of clips from that film...I felt myself smiling a Jack Nicholson-size grin when that part came on! Bill Moseley (who played "Chop Top" in 1986's "Texas Chansaw Massacre 2") returns to the franchise as Drayton Sawyer, a part originally played by the late Jim Siedow. He may not look exactly like Jim, but he sure has the voice down!

Once it flashes forward to the present it becomes your generic hack-up-slut-fest, and it has a wonky timeline, but it did have some sweet gory parts. It looks like the 2003 reboot will only consist of the two movies that came out in that franchise, as it appears they're going back to the beginning and negating the other sequels in the original franchise (part 2, "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3," and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation"- the less said about the last one, the better). If horror is your thing, it's worth checking out. It had some sweet 3D effects too (I flinched when Leatherface threw a chainsaw in my direction)!

RANDOM RAMBLING!
My favorite song (this week). "Twilight World" by Swing Out Sister

I remember this song from when I was a kid, but never knew the name of the artist. I recall one of their other big hits, "Break Out," but I thought that was their only hit. They had one more big success in the early '90s with a cover of the Dusty Springfield track "Am I the Same Girl?"

No, I'm not gay, but I do enjoy '80s sophisti-pop music, a genre of music that includes such bands as Level 42 and ABC. I really like singer Corinne Drewery's voice...she has a certain Annie Lenox quality at times. Plus she's hot. I know it sounds like something you might hear in a dentist's office, but like I said before, my taste in music goes against the grain.

And speaking of dentist's offices, remember earlier when I mentioned how some album artwork from the '80s looks like it belongs in a dentist office? Here's another classic example:

This album by Rush came out in 1989. I remember seeing it at a record store 4 years later and thinking how dated looking it was. Talk about a short shelf life!

Well, that's all I have for this week. You all be sure to come back to hang real soon alright?

Cuz when you get your friends together, there's never a dull moment in the basement.

Essential VHS Viewing #1

Today I'm going to start a new semi-regular theme for reviews of old VHS tapes I have recently purchased and viewed. My love for the medium of VHS is no secret to regular readers of this blog and I feel like it is ESSENTIAL for watching '80s horror and action flicks. The tinny music, the wavy lines, the graininess of the footage, and the cheap production values of the video company logos at the beginning all add to the viewing experience. Here's a clip featuring some of the more well-known home video companies...

VHS also transports me back to my childhood, when renting a movie meant going to a dusty part of the grocery store (past the machine that sold Freddy Krueger stickers and 6 packs of Tab) and checking out the artwork on the boxes for the movie that looked coolest. Back then nothing beat the thrill of holding that clamshell case in your lap on the ride home, anticipating a Friday night of thrills.

In the past few months I've been seeking out and purchasing only the finest of old videos. A while back I posted a pic of a large pile of videos I found at an area Goodwill. Just two weeks ago I found some cool cheap vids at one of my local record stores; look for a post reviewing those as soon as I watch them. Today I plan on talking about three worthy additions to my growing collection I recently found on Amazon Marketplace and watched over the weekend. The titles? "The Stoned Age." "Teen Wolf." And "Squirm."

1)

1

"The Stoned Age" is a comedy that came out in 1994 about two stoners in the late '70s looking for booze and broads. As for whether it's better than "Dazed and Confused?" Well, that's a matter of taste. I do prefer "Dazed" but this movie has a certain charm for it. It is at times cheesy, cartoonish, sophomoric, and thinly plotted, BUT it's also a lot of fun. Plus, there are some fine chicks in it to look at and an ass kicking soundtrack featuring Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, and Black Sabbath.

The movie also creates it's own language with all of the slang the characters use, most of which has probably never been heard elsewhere. Here's some examples:

                                                      Worm = Back-Stabber

                                                      Lumbo = Good Weed

                                                        Talls = 16 oz. beers

                                                     Skankweed = Bad Weed  

  

Here's a clip where we meet our two main protagonists, Joe and Hubbs:

This movie also features Grace Slick and Paul Kantner's daughter China and has cameos by Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma from B.O.C. "The Stoned Age" is so bad it's good, and worth checking out. Just make sure you have plenty of talls to consume while watching it. 

2)

My love for this movie is well-known, and I talked about it in my review of it's horribly unworthy sequel which I posted back in March. Not only is this flick one of my favorite '80s movies, but it's also one of my favorite movies of all time. It just hits all the right notes. I can watch this movie over and over and never tire of it. I watched it just this past Sunday and still got chills at the end where Michael J. Fox brushes past the sex goddess Pamela for the girl next door, Boof.

*Sigh* Boof. As soon as time travel technology is perfected, I'm going back to 1985 to win your love.

Another highlight of this flick? Jerry Levine as Stiles. He's the typical '80s flick teen bad influence. This movie is where I first got a look at what high school life was like. Here's a clip of him trying to buy a keg. The party store brings back memories of similar establishments I used to go to with my dad back in the day.

3)

I first saw this '70s b-horror movie as a 13 year old in a heavily edited version that aired on the "Thriller Double Feature." Every Saturday afternoon on Detroit's Ch. 20 they would show two horror flicks, typically from the '70s and '80s. Here's a clip of the intro for that program...you gotta love those old school low budget production values!

Anyway, I later saw "Squirm" in its' unedited glory years later when I found it on Netflix. This movie tells the story of three teens in a small Georgia town who have to face the wrath of carnivorous worms. The worms become frenzied killers after a freak lightning storms sends hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity into the wet soil. I totally love the red-headed main character, Geri, played by the beguiling Patricia Pearcy. Here's a link to pics and a clip of her brief topless scene in the film, showing a side view of her small but pert breasts. http://ancensored.com/nude-appearance/squirm-geri-sanders

I just can't get enough of those '70s gals!

"Squrim" is a total low-budget, drive-in movie theater style movie. The way it's filmed gives it an almost documentary feel, and I would compare it in that way to the legendary "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Here's a clip of the trailer:

Well gang, that's all for this first entry in my series of "Essential VHS Viewing." Next on the docket? Three movies that didn't come out during the Carter or Reagan administrations but were still worthwhile: "Halloween: H20," "Halloween: Resurrection," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie."

Back to VHS!

I found a cool article about the resurgence in VHS culture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/movies/horror-film-goes-back-to-vhs-tape.html?_r=2

The articles is about how some of the younger generation have a retro fascination with watching horror films on VHS for the aesthetics of it. It's always cool to see what was once considered a dead medium kept alive but kids into retro stuff. It's like what happened with vinyl. Back in the early-mid '90s you could not find a new release on vinyl to save your life. This is not the case anymore. This article goes on to say that there are some movies still issued on VHS.

Another part of the article talks about how it used to be fun to go to mom and pop video stores and browse the cover artwork looking for something cool to watch. I still have fond memories of browsing the horror movie section of a store like that in my hometown of Fowlerville called Marshall's, circa 9th grade (1994)

I remember there was a certain period of time in the early-mid '90s when Media distributors lost the rights to the movie John Carpenter's "Halloween," so you could only find it in video stores to rent. If you wanted to  pick up a copy at a store in the mall that sold videos (like Suncoast) you were out of luck. This was remedied in 1995 when Blockbuster bought the rights (Anchor Bay would later pick them up in 1997).  The Blockbuster version was also how I saw the movie for the first time, and the first (of many!) copies I owned. Fun fact: I saw "Halloween II" before "Halloween," when it aired on late-night cable in the fall of 1995. That viewing was what inspired me to want to check out the original.                                                                              

Anyone remember when the best place to rent movies was at a grocery store? I can remember being 8 years old and thinking no movie seemed scarier than this one (based on cover art):

I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my love for VHS. I recently found copies of  "Star Wars" (the ORIGINAL, not dicked with version) and "Conan the Barbarian" at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store for a quarter a piece. You can't beat that! I still love stumbling across something cool at a thrift store for cheap. But that, my friends, is a topic for another day. Another topic I might further address is cool VHS cover artwork for '80s movies. Chris Sims over at Comics Alliance has touched on this subject a few different times. Head over to their site and check it out if you want a chuckle, some of those covers are over the top!