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Ghostbusters (1984 - Rated PG in the US for spookiness, wackiness and the stay puft marshmallow man)

Summary (from IMDB):

Three odd-ball scientists get kicked out of their cushy positions at a university in New York City where they studied the occult. They decide to set up shop in an old firehouse and become Ghostbusters, trapping pesky ghosts, spirits, haunts, and poltergeists for money. They wise-crack their way through the city, and stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, one which will release untold evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters are called on to save the Big Apple.

RB Wood's rating (out of 5) 4.5 doogs and cats living together

No movie on this list will have more quotable lines than this flick.  No so much a horror flick, but a horror spoof.  Sure there are wonderful scary moments like when Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) is yanked into her fridge by the key master and the gate keeper, but this film is just a boat load of fun.  Three scientist of the paranormal studies department of NYU, Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murry), Dr. Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are tossed out of their cushy tenured positions for being frauds. Venkman certainly sees his career as a dodge, but Stanz and Spengler are serious scientists who have developed a series of inventions to help-- not only to prove the existance of ghosts, but to capture and contain them.  With a third mortgage on Stanz's family home, they fund a business to rid New York City of ghosts--the Ghostbusters.

Evil is afoot in the Big Apple, when an occultist designed tower in the city (where Barret and Rick Moranis' Louis Tully reside) opens up a portale to another world allowing the dead to float around the city causing mayhem.

This is comedic genius written by Aykroyd, Ramis and the uncredited Moranis.  Although the effects are a bit dated, the story works and is an absolute riot from Venkman's experiment to pick up a hot co-ed in the beginning to the attack of the stay puft marshmallow man at the end.  I still laugh out loud at the many one liners and site gags ever present in this movie and the cast plays their parts perfectly.  I still, to this day, see people dressed as the Ghostbusters for Halloween and I encourage you to give it a viewing this season.  And I'll bet real money that Ray Parker Jr.'s famous didy popped into your head while reading this.

Tomorrow: I see dead people

Peace 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 - Rated PG in the US for body invading aliens and spooky shit)

Summary (from IMDB):

The first remake of the paranoid infiltration classic moves the setting for the invasion from a small town to the city of San Fransisco and starts as Matthew Bennell notices that several of his friends are complaining that their close relatives are in some way different. When questioned later they themselves seem changed as they deny everything or make lame excuses. As the invaders increase in number they become more open and Bennell, who has by now witnessed an attempted "replacement" realises that he and his friends must escape or suffer the same fate. But who can he trust to help him and who has already been snatched?

RB Wood's Rating (out of 5): 4 pods

Yes, this is a remake.  But it's the first version I saw and I was happy to revisit it last night.  Director Philip Kaufman does a wonderful job building the low to high level paranoia and suspense through-out this nail-bitting film.  What I liked most about this most recent viewing is the almost total lack of gore and violence, yet the fear factor is on par with some of the more fightiening films on my 31 films of Halloween list.  I've since seen the 1956 original based on Jack Finney's classic novel, and I was of two minds whether to review the original or this remake.  But this 1978 version is better--much better--for all around acting, story-telling and the creep factor which is critical for this most spooky of seasons.

Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) is a field investigator for the Department of Public Health, and when Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) tells him that her boyfriend is not the same person he was, Matthew suggests that Elizabeth visit Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) for emotional counseling.  More people seem to be having the same issue, and when Matthew's friends (Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) and Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum)) find a clone of Jack in their medical business, the four investigate only to find emotionless clones of others replaced by plants who attack at night.

All in all, a great scary movie for the family (as long as the kids are 13 and older).  Brilliant casting and the cameos by Don Siegel and Kevin McCarthy (from the original) is a nice touch.

Tomorrow: Let's have a little fun. And when someone asks if you're a god, you say YES.

Peace 

Psycho (1960 Rated PGish in the US for suspence and Hitchcock camera angles)

Summary (from IMDB):

Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

RB Wood's Rating (out of 5): 4.5 Knife wielding wig wearers

The Bates motel.  Scenic location of pure terror. The image of Janet Leigh in the shower is one of the most masterful scenes ever filmed in a horror movie.  The shear sexuality and horror of the scene is so well done that to this day people swear they saw Janet Leigh completely naked.  Norman Bates (played to perfection by Anthony Perkins) is an introverted, mother dominated soul who runs the hotel that bares the family name.  This film isn't the gore-fest of movies that followed.  Often cited, repeatedly parodied this classic of classics is the movie that broke holiwood away from the horror=monster genre.  Although Norman is his own monster, isn't he?

It's not just the imfamous shower scene that makes this film a classic.  It's all the little touches and scenes that builds to the final plot twist.  A few examples:

• The depiction of 1950's/1960's America in the begining
• The scene with Marion (Leigh) and the cop
• Conversations between Norman and Marion/Norman and Arbogast (Martin Balsam)

And so many others.  If you haven't scene this before, you owe it to yourself to rent/stream a copy.  It's Hitchcock at his best.

Tomorrow: Check the basement for pods

Peace

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 - Rated R in the US for Gore, Violence, sexual humor and a bad Wolverine impression)

Summary (from IMDB):

On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends including Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Freddy Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Freddy tries to pick off his victims one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?

RB Wood's Rating (Out of 5): 3.5 metal fingers

Ah, Freddie Krueger.  Before the character so brilliantly premiered and played by Robert Englund became a parody of itself, there was this original which is bloody, violent and scary as hell.  But upon watching this for the first time since 1984, I find the movie much diminished due to the obscene number of sequels and remakes.  I took a full star off for that, as scenes in this original that were once scary now seem a bit laughable.

I say this because this film (along with the original Halloween and Friday the 13th) brought back the suspense thriller in horror form.  A throw back to the old Hitchcock films of yesteryear. The film opens with a child molester being burned to death by the parents of the children he abused (Krueger).  Years later, the monster reappears in the nightmares of the 'modern day' teenagers living on Elm Street.  Believe it or not, the idea for this Wes Craven tale was inspired by real-life stories of people dying in their sleep.

Unfortunately, this is Nancy's (Heather Langenkamp) story.  I say unfortunately because her acting in this us sub-par.  Even Johnny Depp (who in his movie debut plays Glen Lantz) is wooden.  It's a fun little flick for the season, just don't pick up the sequels.

Tomorrow: "Mother!"

Peace