When it rains, it gores

The following post is a submission to the All Wet Blogathon hosted by Encore’s World of Film & TV blog which celebrates the best cinematic rain scenes.

Rain scenes in movies often symbolize many different things like sadness, cleansing or ribirth, but in the realm of horror movies, rain usually means one thing – that something very bad is about to happen. And while there are many great horror movies with rain scenes, the following is a list of some of the best rainy sequences which either show something messed up or represents a plot point in that particular movie.

5. Stephen King’s IT

In the opening scene of Stephen King’s IT, we see the little boy Georgi playing in the rain when he encounters the evil clown Pennywise. The whole scene is kind of messed up and I always wonder why this kid didn’t question the fact that there was clown hanging out in the sewer. Now I’m not a fan of clowns in the first place, but if I saw one in the sewer and he offered me a balloon, I definitely would not take it.

4. Urban Legend

In another opening sequence, the movie Urban Legend sets the stage for the killer’s slew of urban legend based death scenes with the first being someone hiding in the back seat of the car. The rain shots here are particularly well done, giving us a creepy atmosphere and a general feeling of impending violence. Also, I should point out that the creepy looking gas station attendent in this scene is Brad Dourif, also known as the voice of Chucky.

3. An American Werewolf in London

In one of the best werewolf movies of the 80s, An American Werewolf in London gives us a rain scene in which two of the main characters are lost while hiking through the English countryside after visiting the Slaughtered Lamb pub. Unfortunately, the guys walked right into werewolf country as we see one of the poor souls being ripped to shreds.

2. Poltergeist

While there are so many great scenes in Poltergeist, one of the scenes that has always creeped me out was when the mother played by JoBeth Williams falls into the pool foundation in the rain, mud and dead corpses. And what makes this scene even more creepy is that they used actual real human skeletons when filming it – WTF! Sorry about the quality of the clip above, it’s the only one I could find of that scene and it doesn’t do it any justice, it’s better to just go watch the movie again.

1. Return of the Living Dead

In one of my personal favorite zombie movies, the rain in Return of the Living Dead plays a particularly important role in the movie. When the movie’s main characters are trying to kill off a zombie they decide to burn the body in a crematorium in order to destroy it. However, what they didn’t realize is that the trioxin laced smoke rose into the clouds which then rained down into the local cemetery causing the dead to rise from their graves and wreak havoc on the town.

They're so scary... you'll brick your pants!

Over the last several years there has been a rise in a particular style of short animation films on YouTube called brickfilms. Brick films are essentially LEGO stop motion animation films. And over the past week I have been watching tons of these Lego animation horror flicks since I am both a big Lego fan and a horror movie fan. Some of these turned out to be not so good but a handful of them were fantastic. Fortunately for you guys, I’ve sifted through the junk and compiled what I feel are the best stop motion Lego movies.

5. Paranormal Snacktivity

This humorous take on the bedroom scenes of the first Paranormal Activity film is both well done and funny. The editor does a good job of getting the found footage look while adding in both an erie sounding atmosphere with the quirky murmuring of the Lego figurines.

4. Night of the Living Dead

Unfortunately this Lego short only depicts the cemetery scene in what could possibly be Night of the Living Dead or any zombie movie where the dead rise from their graves. However, it is quite creative with it’s ability to depict a Lego zombie rising from the ground using Playdough. In addition, the music and grainy vintage look to the brickfilm is well done.

3. The Ring

This brickfilm depicts one of the last scenes of The Ring where the creepy little girl from the well climbs out of the TV and attacks the dude. The creator of this one did a really nice job showing the spooky video from the film and making it appear as the creepy Lego girl really comes out of it; not sure how he or she managed to pull this effect off, but it works wonderfully.

2. Saw

This one also shows the ending of a horror film, Saw, and does an excellent job of not only providing great Lego stop motion but great editing and camera work as well. We have some nice camera panning which really help to make it seem like it is a Hollywood produced work along with pulling together the whole montage of scenes involving the main characters really makes this brick film top notch.

1. Frankenstein

This particular Lego animation is by far my favorite. Not only is it kind of scary for a brickfilm but the quality of the sound editing is what I think really makes this Lego version of the classic Frankenstein story so compelling. From the background music to the sounds of foot steps, knocks on the door, the rain and wind, and the creepy whisper of “free me,” this film will give you chills. In my opinion, it is one of the best Lego stop motion movies on YouTube right now.

This post is a submission to the Short Animation Blogathon hosted by the fantastic Pussy Goes Grrr blog, so be sure to visit to find other great short animation blog entries.

The following is my submission to the My Movie Year blogathon, hosted by Fandango Groovers Movie Blog. Be sure to check out all the other great entries.

While the ridiculous decade known as the 80s was indeed a grand and quirky time in the horror movie world, there is one particular year that I feel stood out among the rest. That year being the first of the decade, the year that would kick off popular trends such as hair bands, parachute pants and teenage slasher films. That crazy year is 1980 and these are the best 1980 horror movies.

5. Cannibal Holocaust

While it’s hard to say that Cannibal Holocaust is one of the “best” horror movies of 1980 considering it’s controversial nature, I think it does deserve a spot on the list since the movie did break some ground being the first of the found footage style movie genre. In addition, the director Ruggero Deodato’s dedication to giving the movie a hyper realism look while challenging it’s audience with what they are willing to accept in a horror movie is the act of a master troll, and that in my book deserves some recognition.

4. The Changeling

One of George C. Scott’s best horror movie performance and a haunted house tale that introduced a surprising and wonderfully satisfying twist. The Changeling set the bar for the haunted house movie genre that wasn’t seen since The Haunting. From the creepy wheelchair, the faint murmurs of ghosts, and the random ball bouncing down the stairs, this movie delivers with an unnerving paranormal experience.

3. The Fog

One of John Carpenter’s visually stunning masterpieces, The Fog movie is a great horror film which builds much of it’s suspense through atmosphere and the spooky seaside town of Antonio Bay. Not to mention that there is something that is inherently creepy about fog to begin with, as it plays upon our fear of what we cannot see.

2. Friday the 13th

A classic slasher film which, along with Halloween from two years earlier, would create a horror sub genre that would blow up throughout the entire 80s. Friday the 13th no doubt became the inspiration for many slashers to come, providing us with what we now consider cliche elements to the slasher genre.

1. The Shining

Usually considered one of the top horror movies of all time, let alone of the 80s, and no doubt the winner in not just the horror genre for 1980 but movies in general. This Stanley Kubrick film became a masterpiece while launching the career of Jack Nicholson into the stratosphere. The Shining truly has it all for a haunted house movie and to this day still delivers chills and very potent heebie jeebies.

Honorable Mentions & Non Horror Movies:

In addition to the 1980 horror movies above, the same year also had a number of other great movies outside the horror genre which rank among my favorites, giving further proof that 1980 was a badass year in the theatres.

These movies include: The Empire Strikes Back, Caddyshack, The Blues Brothers, Raging Bull, and Airplane.

Other honorable horror mentions: Prom Night, Terror Train, Maniac!, and Humanoids from the Deep

Can a movie go too far?

A New York University anthropologist goes on an expedition to the Amazon rain forest to rescue a documentary crew who has been rumored to fall victim to the jungle’s hostile cannibal tribes. However, while Professor Harold Monroe is able to win favor and hospitality among one of the jungle tribes, he soon discovers the remains of the documentary crew and their undeveloped film canisters. After bringing the film back to New York, where television executives are insistent on airing the film, Professor Monroe resists the release of the film due to it’s shocking footage which includes the fates of the documentary crew and it’s director, Alan Yates.

"So this is the shooty end of the gun..."

While I can’t say that I enjoyed Cannibal Holocaust or even recommend it, the film does have an interesting social statement to make and is not a movie which is simply an excuse for torture porn, despite it’s myriad scenes of unbearable gore. In addition, the movie also breaks some ground as being considered one of the first of the found footage genre, released a good 19 years before the Blair Witch Project which is the film that really got the ball rolling with the shaky cam style of filming.

Is Cannibal Holocaust Real?

"Hmm, so what do you think is in the soup du jour?"

Due to the controversy surrounding this film when it was released, the director Ruggero Deodato along with the films producers were under investigation for the possibility of harming people during the making of the film, especially considering the hyper realism of the special effects. However, it was determined that none of the actors or people were harmed, though there was real animal cruelty which included the dismemberment of a turtle, a muskrat, a pig and a monkey. In addition, there was stock footage used from a Nigerian documentary called The Last Road to Hell which showed human execution by firing squad. Given all that, it’s no wonder why people might assume that the movie is real.

Art or Exploitation?

The crowd was not amused with the standup comedian's joke, "Why don't cannibals eat clowns?"

Though the movie is definitely disturbing and hard to watch at times, it does pose some interesting social implications regarding not only other cultures but our own culture in a westernized society. What really sets Cannibal Holocaust apart from other cannibal movies of the time is that as we learn more and more about Alan Yates and his documentary crew, the more we despise them and sympathize with the jungle tribes. We see a film crew of four young arrogant westerners provoking and torturing the Amazonian natives for the sake of not only entertainment, but their own sadistic needs. And in the end, what we get is Ruggero Deodato pulling the old switcheroo on the audience by not only making us turn against the protagonists, but question our own taste in entertainment by watching his movie, which is best demonstrated in the following dialogue:

Female TV Executive: Today people want sensationalism; the more you rape their senses the happier they are.
Professor Harold Monroe: Ah, yes, that’s typical western thought. Civilised isn’t it? That’s what Alan thought and that’s why he’s dead. The Yacumo Indian is a primitive and he has to be respected as such. You know, did you ever think of the Yacumo point of view? That we might be the savages?

The problem with reality TV is that through the power of editing you can create any reality you want.

Overall, I can’t really give the movie a rating since it’s probably not something I imagine anyone would really enjoy, it’s a movie that you just kind of have to accept as something very different from the status quo, whether that be an exploitation film or a work of art. Regardless, it makes you think and at the very least, makes you want to cover your eyes.

Fridays will never be the same again.

Lets play a little game, answer this question and you can go free, who is the killer in Friday the 13th? Chances are that if you’ve never seen the movie and are of the younger generation that missed the wonderful decade of 1980 horror movies, then even though you think you know, you’d probably guess wrong. And for some reason, despite being a child of the 80s myself, had never actually seen the original and now I sit here wondering, what the heck took me so long?

Horror movie rule #7: Always check under the bed

In preparation to re-open Camp Crystal Lake decades after the gruesome murder of two camp counselors, a new team of young counselors emerge at the camp, to help fix it back up. However, despite the youngsters intentions to have a good time, they soon begin to be plucked off one by one, each with their own horrific bloody deaths. As we eventually learn, there is more to the back story of Camp Crystal Lake and it’s killer’s intent on keeping it closed for good.

Horror movie rule #23: Vanity is grounds for death

Although the Halloween movie in 1978 technically kicked off a new age of horror with the rise of slasher films, Friday the 13th 1980 version broke a lot of ground and was the movie to cement the “rules” of slasher movies to come, ones that would become so ingrained in the horror culture that another slasher franchise, Scream, would be born of it.

Horror movie rule #69: Playing any game that involves stripping is a bad idea

The movie breaks ground with many now familiar scary movie tactics, ones that make the audience part of the action. We get the eery stalking sound “ch-ch-ch-ha-ha-ha” that has become synonymous with campground horror sequences. We get the point of view camera angles as if we are seeing from the eyes of the killer. And finally, we get a killer whom we wouldn’t have expected.

Horror movie rules #71: Going out in the rain by yourself will get you killed

Major Spoiler Ahead

To answer my question in the beginning of this review, there does seem to be a certain amount of naivety when it comes to people assuming that Jason Voorhees is the killer in the first Friday 13th movie, as it tends to be a surprise to people who watch the for it first time when it turns out to be Jason’s mother, Mrs. Pamela Voorhees. Although it’s understandable for the confusion since Jason and his iconic hockey mask have become so associated with the Friday 13th film series that why wouldn’t you assume anything else? We even see this naivety in the first sequence of Scream, in which Drew Barrymore’s character fails to answer this exact question.

Horror movie rule #102: Wooden doors are not impenetrable

Overall, the Friday the 13th film is THE classic slasher movie which really got the ball rolling through the 80s craze of psychotic blood letting killers. The film is a defining one with its crude imagery, where the suspense and scares are delivered from that of a familiar yet spooky atmosphere and not necessarily one of excessive gore. And on that note, I give this 1980 horror classic 9 blood soaked campers out of 10.

When the fog rolls in... the terror begins!

Amidst the one hundred year anniversary of the founding of Antonio Bay, a small sleepy fishing village on the Northern Californian coast, strange occurrences begin to happen as a creepy glowing fog rolls in from the sea. However, what the residents don’t know is that within the fog exists the spirits of a former leper colony whose decrepit corpses are now seeking their revenge for the sins of their murderers.

Looks like someone is about to fog up the windows... if ya know what mean!

In this classic John Carpenter horror movie, we are treated with a star studded cast including Adrienne Barbeau, John Houseman, Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook, Janet Leigh and her scream queen daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. Essentially it’s a movie filled with horror icons, so you wouldn’t expect anything less than a good creepy suspenseful film, and no doubt, John Carpenter delivers with The Fog.

Noooo! Behind you Grandma!!

The back story involves a wealthy leper named Blake who over one hundred years ago sets sail to form his own leper colony in which he intends to live in peace. However, six of the original founders of Antonio Bay find themselves filled with greed and disgust, deciding to misguide Blake’s ship, the Elizabeth Dane, with a campfire on the shore while it is lost in a fog. Unfortunately for Blake, the ship crashes into the rocks killing him and his crew while the six conspirators of Antonio Bay loot and plunder Blake’s fortune of gold. Of course, one hundred years later Blake and his crew would get their retribution.

If the fog doesn't get you, then the sultry voice of Adrienne Barbeau will surely steam things up.

I have to say that this movie holds a special place in my heart as it was one of my childhood favorites. I used to love the concept of fog in general, and the possibility of people living in the fog. Not to mention that fog itself can be pretty scary, in that it essentially limits what you can see around you. It’s an atmosphere that when you find yourself in it, you can’t help but feel a tad nervous that something could pop out at any time and you wouldn’t know it until a hook is being shoved through your eye socket; or at the very least, you trip over a pot hole. Either way, fog is serious business…

"This fog's as thick as peanut butter! "

As for the movie, it is well done, building a suspenseful creepy vibe right from the beginning. The characters are all enjoyable, though I would say that Jamie Lee Curtis isn’t quite in her most action packed horror role as she was in Halloween, Prom Night or Terror Train; but it’s no biggie since the real star of the show is the entire town of Antonio Bay with it’s sweeping panoramic cinematic shots. Not to mention that it’s a slow burn type of movie which builds upon suspense and atmosphere leaving you sitting on the edge of your seat. Overall, I give The Fog eight stratus clouds out of ten that are thicker than pea soup.

It Breathes. It Hunts. It Kills!

Before the Alien movie terrified us with it’s own horrific stowaway alien, there was It! The Terror from Beyond Space. When a rescue ship lands on Mars to pick up the lone survivor, Colonel Carruthers, of the first expedition to Mars, something climbs aboard and reeks havoc on the journey back to Earth. And that something is a hilarious looking 1950s style monster suit.

"Well, here we are!"

Interestingly, the rescue mission that saves Carruthers is not necessarily there just to save him but to bring him back to Earth so that he can be tried for murder. Yes, because it is so unbelievable that an alien creature could exist on Mars, the rescue crew treats the colonel with much suspicion. However, that suspicion is soon cast aside when the actual creature is discovered on board the rocket ship after it had sucked all the liquid out of an unfortunate astronaut.

As usual, everyone's having a grand old time in Ten Forward.

Unfortunately for the astronauts, this newly discovered “It” on their spacecraft is not something that can be easily killed using conventional weapons, which for some reason they keep on board. And this is what really gets me, they use grenades to rig booby traps on the ship in an attempt to blow up the monster. Now I’m no rocket scientist but I do know enough about aerospace to realize that it’s probably not a good idea to use guns or any other type of explosives inside a pressurized craft such as a rocket ship. Perhaps the writers should have consulted with Wernher von Braun before making the movie.

"Listen, I told you to stop touching my test tube!"

As the crew is slowly killed off one by one the remaining astronauts devise several plans for attempting to destroy the strange Martian creature. And despite the creature looking like a seemingly mortal offshoot of a humanoid, it’s surprising that their attempts to shoot it, light it on fire, and blow it up have absolutely no effect on the thing.

"So does anyone know what happens if one of these bullets goes through the hull of the spacecraft? No one? Ok then, fire at will."

However, in their final attempt to survive the trip back to Earth the astronauts come up with an ingenious plan, one which destroys the creature involving a hypothesis which we now know would be scientifically implausible given our current information about Mars – not that I’m trying to nitpick on the reality of a horror movie…

We call it... pandorum.

Aside from the scientific inaccuracies which I think we can easily ignore given that almost all space horror movies have these types of flaws to some extent, It! The Terror from Beyond Space is a fun movie and surprisingly good for its time. Being a fan of space exploration I particularly enjoy how the entertainment industry viewed the future of space travel from the viewpoint of a 50s sci fi movie. In addition, the creature itself is quite comical, but no doubt the inspiration for the all time great Alien movie franchise that would come decades later.

Maybe this is a bad time to tell you, but the door is open.

Overall, I give “IT” 7 screams out of 10, that no one can hear in space.

If you're hairy you belong on a motorbike!

When a motorcycle gang known as the Devil’s Advocates roam the desert, living the life on the open road, the free spirits find themselves camped outside of an old monastery. While in the middle of a drug fueled party, the creepy monks emerge to offer them free bread and wine. Unfortunately for the Devil’s Advocates this act of hospitality tricks the gang into consuming roofies, passing out in the grass while the monks capture the gang’s resident hot chick to have her perform a naked snake and skull dance. Oh yea, and eventually members of the gang turn into werewolves.

"Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are."

Coincidentally, Werewolves on Wheels opens in a very similar fashion to the 1969 classic motorcycle movie, Easy Rider. In fact, I’d say that this movie was inspired by it, given that much of the film is shot in the same style with it’s motorcycle gang riding across the desert landscape. However, despite the movie’s promising attempt to marry a road movie with a horror flick, it in no way compares to either Easy Rider nor a quality werewolf film.

"...and his plot was this big"

And while the film is only around 80 minutes or so, more than half of that screen time is filled with the gang riding their bikes or simply squabbling over trivial matters, nothing that really hints at a coherent plot line. The few good scenes that do make the movie watchable mostly involve the monks inside the monastery and Donna Anders’ naked body gyrating above a ceremonial bonfire. In addition, we really don’t get to see any real werewolf action until later in the film.

Mom always told me not get mixed up with girls who have a skull fetish

One thing I will say, is that there is definitely a gang/buddy feel to the biker guys. One of the few redeeming qualities of the movie is the dynamic between the leader of the group/president of the gang and the second in command who is also some sort of mystic tarot card reader. This dynamic really shows in the final few scenes of the movie when they do the classic fight for leadership scene, though one of them has the killer advantage of also being a werewolf, so that helps.

wow, werewolves really do have perfect hair! Aaahoooo!

Overall, Werewolves on Wheels seemed more like a college movie project than anything. I suppose if you’re really into motorcycles and long drawn out desert riding scenes then this could be for you but I wouldn’t count on the werewolf action to be all that exhilarating – you’re better off just watching it for the sacrificial naked snake and skull dance. With that said, on the Hell’s Satan rating system I give this flick four mediocre riders out of ten.

She Escaped Death. Now It Wants Her Back!

When a group of young women decide to drag race a group of young men across a bridge, they accidentally lose control and plunge off the the bridge into the water below. All of the women are found dead with the exception of one, Mary Henry, who has somehow escaped and is found walking upon the river shore. With her life now traumatized by the horrific accident, she leaves town to start a new life, only to find the appearance of strange apparitions and bizarre occurrences.

Well there's your problem, no one is driving the cars!

As Mary Henry sets out in her new town staying at a local inn and working as an organ player at the nearby church she is continuously plagued by the appearance of a decrepit looking man who has the tell tale signatures of a creepy dead guy. In addition, Mary also finds herself in moments where she is not able to hear anything around her, nor will anyone acknowledge her existence, as if she didn’t exist at all. Then there’s the abandoned carnival down the road that Mary is somehow drawn to despite it’s clear that nothing good would come of exploring it. And if all this wasn’t bad enough, her real life scumbag neighbor down the hall is relentless in his obvious desire to hook-up with the poor girl.

You should always role your windows up when driving through haunted amusement parks

Carnival of Souls is certainly an interesting movie that has seen a resurgence in popularity recently, as far as old horror movies go, and for good reason. The movie does provide an eery atmosphere with some unexpected creepy scenes and a plot twist that was ahead of it’s time. Some people would even say that it’s in the same spirit of Night of the Living Dead which would come six years later, for reasons that it explored new concepts in the horror genre at the time.

"Why don't I just Irish up that coffee a bit, it'll give you a reason to explain all those ghosts you're seeing"

However, with all that being said, I personally found the film to be a bit boring. It’s not that I can’t appreciate older films, since much of what I review is classic horror, but there were some things about Carnival of Souls that put me on the verge of falling asleep. Despite some good scenes and the twist, many parts of the film dragged on too long for me where I found myself repeatedly saying, “Come on, get on with it already!” In addition, despite the clever twist at the end which likely inspired a certain M. Night Shyamalan movie, I saw it coming from the very beginning, immediately thinking “ohhh, I already know what the ending is,” and sure enough it played out exactly how I thought.

The local polar bear club was ecstatic when Mary considered joining their ranks.

Perhaps I grew up in the wrong decade to appreciate this movie, but that’s not to say there aren’t some aspects to enjoy. I think it probably could have been much shorter and still be able to tell it’s story much more effectively. And with that, I’d give this classic horror movie five wandering souls out of ten.

They're not human. But they hunt human women. Not for killing. For mating.

In a small struggling fishing village, strange things begin to happen after a horrible fishing boat explosion and all the dogs in the village end up dead. As the quaint small town villagers go about their business, they soon begin to find that many of the young men are showing up half eaten while the young sexy women of the town go missing. Of course, none of this could have anything to do with the new large fish cannery corporation experimenting with mutant salmon DNA in it’s attempt to grow fish twice as fast and twice as big… well, that may have something to do with it.

Not to sound cliche or anything, but you guys are gonna need a bigger boat...

Humanoids from the Deep is essentially the Roger Corman produced version of the classic swamp creature. The difference is that this is one of the first 80s horror movies to step things up a notch by making the sea creatures not just an experiment gone wrong, but one that makes them part human and part fish, a hybrid which is the result of unbridled rapid evolution. To top it all off and put the signature Roger Corman stamp on things, these sea creatures have an insatiable desire to mate with the towns young women.

This is why you don't go swimming until 2 hours after you've been eaten

Naturally by the time the resident scientist figures out what the heck is going on, the town’s annual Salmon festival is in full swing. This sets the stage nicely for the end of the movie in which we are treated with a spectacular low budget yet amusing battle between the village people and the sea monsters. But don’t fret, the humans are no slouches in this ocean side war, as they quickly take up arms to enact all sorts bloody slimy revenge on their opponents.

"Sittin' on the dock of the bay, watching the crowd run away..."

The creatures themselves are what you’d expect from a sea creature, ya know, all green, hideous and covered in seaweed. And while at some points they look kind of cheesy, there are other times where the effects work quite well. The most noticeable difference is during the day time scenes with the creatures and the ending of the film during the Salmon festival which is at night, where the creatures look their gruesome best.

Cod save the Salmon Queen!

Humanoids from the Deep is a fairly fast paced story which doesn’t waste too much time getting into any boring plot details. What makes this film entertaining is that it knows it’s not a master piece of horror film, in fact it does well for being a low budget affair. And they stick to what we want when watching B horror movies and thats the three Bs – Blood, Boobs and Beasts. And for that reason, including a memorable ending which rips off the previous year’s Alien movie, I give this a triple B monster movie rating.

Oh yea, one more thing, I have no idea why the actual movie title screen is called “Monster” with the actual title in itty bitty font under it, but that’s how it is in B movie land, you can’t explain this stuff.

Humanoids from the Deep 1996

Half men. Half fish. Full horndogs.

As if the original wasn’t good/bad enough, Roger Corman went at it again in the late 90s with a remake of his famed shlock fest. However despite having pretty much the same story line, the movie is produced in a way that it is purposely meant to be silly and over the top. In addition, we are treated with better special effects and a slightly more sensical plot line, as sensical as fishmen mating with human women could possibly get… Regardless, if you liked the original then you’ll probably like the remake as well.