The Best Part of Halloween
is the frightfest of scary movies on tv. I've missed out on almost all of them, between my personal low threshold for gore and horror (an old childhood trauma) and the objective fact that a lot of scary movies (I'm thinking in the Alien vein) are kinda stupid and sucky.
These Halloween telethons are giving me a great chance to catch up. It seems that I've mostly recovered from my trauma of horror movies, and at some point I've started to enjoy them. It probably has something to do with all the B movies I've been seeing in the interim, so that I've gotten better at picking up the natural thrill and humor of this genre. My tastes haven't undergone a complete revolution, as some of the scary movies I've been watching are still truly forgettable (Constantine, for example), while others sitting on the awesome/eh fence (Resident Evil). But I've also had a chance to catch up on the greats, which I wouldn't have had the guts to see on my own: chief among these is Silence of the Lambs. A melange of history's serial killers (Buffalo Bill) and a supreme original supervillain (Hannibal Lecter).
Let's also not forget my insuperably favorite zombie movie (it's to the zombie genre what Psycho Beach Party is to the beach party genre), Shaun of the Dead. This excellent cinematic tour de force was playing on Comedy Central this weekend.
The vintage horror movies on TCM are also a mixed bag. I saw an old 50s (moralizing) haunted house movie called 13 Ghosts. Interesting as a documentary on the history of cinema, but also consummately boring.
On a less related note, I must make one last mention about regular tv. Mondays no longer suck, for one reason only: Dr. Steve-O. At the cost of sounding redundant, Steve-O is the best thing since sliced bread! Last week was my favorite: he made a recluse challenge himself in socially by walking up to a (large) guy, saying, "hey man what's up?" and then picking up that guy's hamburger and eating it. They called it "hamburgling," ha! But the best part about Dr. Steve-O is a bit more psychologically sophisticated. I've observed that I have trouble watching regular programming because it drives me crazy to have to wait a week to find out what happens next (South Park, Ugly Betty, Heroes); or, alternately, you get so drawn into the story that you have to watch the whole thing even if you're only moderately interested (Law and Order, as much as it kills me to say it). Dr. Steve-O doesn't have either of those problem. It's half an hour of perfection, and after that you're good for the week. You're happy to see it again the next time it comes on, but it doesn't create angst having to wait for it.
These Halloween telethons are giving me a great chance to catch up. It seems that I've mostly recovered from my trauma of horror movies, and at some point I've started to enjoy them. It probably has something to do with all the B movies I've been seeing in the interim, so that I've gotten better at picking up the natural thrill and humor of this genre. My tastes haven't undergone a complete revolution, as some of the scary movies I've been watching are still truly forgettable (Constantine, for example), while others sitting on the awesome/eh fence (Resident Evil). But I've also had a chance to catch up on the greats, which I wouldn't have had the guts to see on my own: chief among these is Silence of the Lambs. A melange of history's serial killers (Buffalo Bill) and a supreme original supervillain (Hannibal Lecter).
Let's also not forget my insuperably favorite zombie movie (it's to the zombie genre what Psycho Beach Party is to the beach party genre), Shaun of the Dead. This excellent cinematic tour de force was playing on Comedy Central this weekend.
The vintage horror movies on TCM are also a mixed bag. I saw an old 50s (moralizing) haunted house movie called 13 Ghosts. Interesting as a documentary on the history of cinema, but also consummately boring.
On a less related note, I must make one last mention about regular tv. Mondays no longer suck, for one reason only: Dr. Steve-O. At the cost of sounding redundant, Steve-O is the best thing since sliced bread! Last week was my favorite: he made a recluse challenge himself in socially by walking up to a (large) guy, saying, "hey man what's up?" and then picking up that guy's hamburger and eating it. They called it "hamburgling," ha! But the best part about Dr. Steve-O is a bit more psychologically sophisticated. I've observed that I have trouble watching regular programming because it drives me crazy to have to wait a week to find out what happens next (South Park, Ugly Betty, Heroes); or, alternately, you get so drawn into the story that you have to watch the whole thing even if you're only moderately interested (Law and Order, as much as it kills me to say it). Dr. Steve-O doesn't have either of those problem. It's half an hour of perfection, and after that you're good for the week. You're happy to see it again the next time it comes on, but it doesn't create angst having to wait for it.
posted by Rex at 11:27 AM
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