Entries Tagged 'wendy torrance 4-eva' ↓

Why, it's none other than SHOCKtober!

Let me tell you, she is primed and gross and ready for action. She's got her candy corns on standby, alternating black and orange plastic spider rings on every finger, and chin putty liberally applied in many places that certainly don't qualify as chins. 

I admit, though, that I spent some time scratching my own "chins" figuring out just what to do for this year's celebration. It's not yet time to put out the call for y'allses Top 20 favorite horror films lists. Do I go in-depth on a single topic, à la the great 2019 Suspiria experiment? What topic could we all endure (and would hold up) for 31 days of posts? (I thought about doing 31 Days of Horror Movie Wigs, but honestly unless it's exceedingly obvious--like, slipping off of someone's head obvious--I never know if some coif is actually a wig. So the whole month would just be comments correcting me one way or the other. However...I'm not saying that this won't be a future SHOCKtober theme. Maybe after I take a class in Wig Recognition at The Learning Annex or something.)

After a whole lot of fussing and fretting, I took a cyber time machine back to 2005 (Can you believe it, girls? 2005!), the year this here blog emerged from my mind-womb, and dug around in the nooks and crannies of the inaugural SHOCKtober festivities. I was immediately brought back to the (pardon my nerdery) excitement of that first go at it: watching and reviewing a movie every day for a whole month! I'd never done anything like it, and lawd, I loved amassing the pile of movies I'd conquer. And I do mean "the pile." Streaming was not a thing, and while I had my Netflix queue all good to go, I was at the mercy of the postal service to shuffle the DVDs back and forth. I hit up eBay and grabbed a bunch of VHS tapes (I don't think the collector craze had hit yet, so you could still get good shit for cheap!). 

A couple of these piles consisted solely of Friday the 13th films and Halloween films because apparently in addition to the movie-a-day thing, I did the F13 and the Halloween all-in-one-day marathons that month?! GOOD LORD. What was I thinking? Ah, the folly of youth and too many Riunites on ice! Just look at this pixelated as all hell picture as I got ready to dive into the Michael Myers saga. So many Halloweens have happened since then! So many media format changes! I don't live in the state where that picture was taken anymore! I still have that Loretta Lynn's Kitchen mug though! 

It was also a real trip to get a re(peep) into ye grand olde horror blogosphere of yore. The heyday of horror blogging--if you want to call it that--was still a couple of years away, but the smaller sphere was mighty still! It was all so much more interactive than it is today, with all the cross-posting and reading each other's sites and commenting and blah blah blah. It was flashback-cool to see all kinds of blog and writer names from the ancient times, including Dark, But Shining, which a friend contributed to and which inspired me to give Final Girl a go in the first place. I clicked a lot of links on this reminiscin' journey, and Dark, But Shining is gone now, as are the vast, vast majority of the other blogs. Some have become blinking, flashing, Chinese cyber casinos. Others, the boring bot-driven page of random placeholder links (maybe you know what I mean). Others still are frozen in amber, their last few posts following the trajectory of many a blog's final days:

• a post with actual content
• (seven months later) a small update with a link to something
• (16 months later) "I am sorry I haven't been updating this blog! I am back now, though"

As SHOCKtober marches on and Halloween approaches I'm getting more and more up in my spooky scary feelings! I have to say, though, my spooky feelings are thriving much more than my scary ones. It's possible that I've sat on too many Brach's Mellowcreme® Pumpkins, of course, and it's dulled my senses. I'm just looking for some nightmares, man, on the screen and on the page. It's like I've either seen/read everything already or recommendations leave me decidedly nightmaresless. 

But like I said, my spooky feelings are thriving, and as such I donned a sweater with a skull on it for some gallivanting the other day and the streets of my town treated me like a princess, throwing all manner of "I like your sweater"s and "nice sweater" and "sick (in a good way)" like so many flower petals. People smiled at me over it? It was weird and a bit disconcerting, but also nice because it was unexpected. Who knew that a sweater with a skull on it could bring people together so much? It was like "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" in sweater form.

I am not saying all of this to brag, but rather to lay the groundwork for passing forward a sweater compliment with today's favorite character, who is...

DANNY TORRANCE'S APOLLO 11 SWEATER IN THE SHINING (1980)

I wonder what kind of reaction I'd get if I wore that out for some gallivanting? It might also make me a fashion phenomenon, but chances are the slant would be more negative. "Why is that five-year-old boy so big?" they might say. Just think of what they'd say if I told them about the boy who lives in my mouth.

But enough about me, this is about Danny Torrance's Apollo 11 sweater. Hey Danny, you little fashion plate...your sweater's definitely sick (in a good way)!

Idioms and idiomatic expressions are neat. From the Serbian "He's ripping clouds with his nose!" to the Sweathoggian "Up your nose with a rubber hose!", quips and quotes and sayings vary from nations and people to people and nations. What causes outrage to a native speaker of a language may cause only puzzlement in a foreigner or Foreigner.

The most famous idiom found in a horror movie- well, except perhaps "You scared the shit outta me!"- is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.", the sentence typed over and over by the sneaky Jack Torrance in The Shining. He was supposed to be working on his novel! That's why he refused sandwiches from Wendy, so he could concentrate! Gawd, what a jerk. First he sets up his special "must have quiet" writing area in the main hall, in the middle of everything, then it comes out that he's just been fooling around with typography the whole time.

Anyway. "All work..." may not be a familiar expression outside the shores of the ol' USA- so what was the phrase translated to in non-domestic releases of the film? Check it out!





Mind you, I got all of these from The Internet, and as we all know The Internet has been known to lie (I'm looking at YOU, Nigerian widow who promised me millions of dollars)...but there you go.

Yes folks, it's the one day a year where we all thank our moms for enduring nine months with a parasite sucking her dry, 30-40 hours of excruciating pain to spew out the parasite, and the rest of her life dealing with the parasite's illnesses, bad behavior, and facial piercings.

Okay, maybe there's some up side to childbirth, but frankly I just don't see it. I'm certainly glad, however, that my mom did. My mom is pretty damn awesome, actually- she's the reason I got into horror movies to begin with, which is why I interviewed her for Pretty Scary way back in the day. Go check it out, and say nice things in the comments, because she's probably reading this.

I figured I'd also post a link to something else I wrote back in said day, an AMC column dedicated to horror movie moms. Sure, sure, we all dig Mrs Voorhees, but be sure to give Wendy Torrance some love!

AMC ran my column early this week because it's a wee interview with Aaron Paul, the dude who stars on the AMC series Breaking Bad who's not the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. He also stars in the remake of The Last House on the Left, which opens this week. Now your Tuesday is like your Wednesday, which I know is going to throw you off-track. For this I apologize, but remember- what doesn't kill you generally makes you want to kill someone else.

In related news: who's going to see Last House?


In other related news, posting is going to be light this week because...well, because I'm busy. Maybe even biz-zay. But what's taking me away from movie watching and the such is actually stuff that I can share with you down the road, so it'll all work out in the end. You know that I do everything for you...but I won't do that! Or something.

In other other related news, I'm glad to see that the results of my Wendy Torrance poll are currently in her favor. It's good to see her get some love!


In other other other related news, Toosday Toons is up. Dare you step inside...The Last House on the Right?

In other other other other related news, here's a scene from Bug. I know you gaze lovingly at that little photo in my sidebar where the woman's hair is on fire...now you can watch the movie magic happen right before your very eyes!



If there's one day I don't want my hair to catch on fire, it's my birthday. Yes, that's the set from The Brady Bunch. I'd also like to point out that she decides to make "chicken mousse", which contains "jellied chicken". I'm sure there's something out there that's more repulsive than jellied chicken and chicken mousse, but whatever it is I'd rather not know about it. Let's distract ourselves from such grossness by re-reading my review of Bug. Sweet relief!

You know what trailer is pretty effing great? This one is:



Imagine seeing that as an actual trailer- you know, before you've actually seen The Shining. What the frig is this movie about? What the hell is going on? I, for one, would be wringing my hands and peeing my pants in anticipation, I can tell you that much.

I do so love that film. It's not perfect, but I get something new out of it every time I watch it...and I always find it incessantly, profoundly unsettling. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Also, please see my related poll on the right.