Freaky Friday, The Final Cut

This is it, y'all. We're only a few days away from Halloween. I don't know about you, but I plan on watching a lot of Horror films this weekend. I plan to add something new too because what's the point in just watching the same films over and over? Anyway...let's get started. First, we'll venture into some classic Stephen King. That means Carrie, The Shining, Firestarter, IT, Christine, Misery, The Dead Zone, and The Stand. Of those seven, my favorites (film-wise) are Carrie, The Dead Zone, and The Shining. (The others have, let's just say, issues.)

If you've never read the book, DO. It's brilliant. There are only a few novels written by white men that are written in the perspective of a teenaged girl that I'm comfortable recommending. This is the first among them. Stephen King did an excellent job of researching and then implementing that research--all without going into creepy-male-gaze directions. Also, I much prefer Sissy Spacek's Carrie to Chloe Moretz's. I love Chloe. She's a wonderful actress. But she simply isn't believable as a welcome matt type girl. She just can't do it. She's also far too traditionally attractive to be Carrie, let's face it. 

The Shining has been redone too, but I much prefer this version. The novel (OMG, definitely read it) is a chilling study in addiction and its affects on a family. Nicholson is (while obviously off the rails from the start) a great example of a guy that thinks he's a nice man looking after his family after hitting hard times, but in reality, he's already out of control. He's already hurt them in awful, horrible ways. I'd argue that, like Nicholson, Mr. Torrence has already left the building by the time he gets to the Overlook. The Overlook just cranks up the speed of the slide in oblivion. As for The Dead Zone, there aren't many Stephen King adaptations that capture the novels well. That one is one of the few that does. It's particularly creepy because I can't help feeling like we're living in the timeline where Johnny Smith didn't succeed.

Next up, John Carpenter' The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

"It's weird and pissed off, whatever it is." Oh, come on. That's a brilliant line. LOL. Again, this one has been remade and the remake is nowhere near as good. I love this film. I say this in spite of the fact that there's not a solitary woman in the entire movie-not one. Just the cheesecake images on the occasional wall poster. Oh, In the Mouth of Madness is another good one, but I'm going to talk about Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Don't read the book. It's terrible. LOL. The 1978 version is the creepiest. It rocks. Best use of Amazing Grace ever in a film. Some other classics that I don't have space to do more than mention: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock could have his own category), Fall of the House of Usher [1],  The Wicker Man [2], The Village of the Damned, The Bad Seed, The Night of the  Hunter, Jaws (OMG, one of my top 10 movies ever [3]), Poltergeist, The Omen, The Silence of the Lambs, Citizen X, The Sixth Sense,[4] The Others, The Innocents, The Haunting of Hill House, Don't Look Now, Zombieland [5], Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz,  The World's End, The Mummy, and 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Now for the last ones. Capote is an intense study about Truman Capote and his bestselling True Crime novel In Cold Blood. It's amazing. If you're a writer, it's a warning to not get too involved in your research...because wow. "I don't care if you catch whomever did this." OMG, that's a seriously special level of self-involved. It makes my skin crawl.

I'm not a big zombie fan, but Warm Bodies is one of my favorite films. My husband and I went to see it on Valentine's Day. (Did I mention that Halloween is our wedding anniversary?

The Devil's Backbone, Orphanage, and Ringu are all foreign films and all are 100% excellent. The Devil's Backbone is wonderfully creepy. The Orphanage is end to end brilliant. I won't give away the big reveal, but I will say it's literary and oh so well written. It makes me cry just thinking about it. It's definitely in my top 10.

I'm constantly talking about this next one: The Final Girls. It's in my top 10 greatest movies of all time. I absolutely love it. The hamster on speed dance is so funny I almost choked to death laughing. It's the best.

The last film in this monster post is Attack the Block. If you've never seen it, you should.

And that's it. I hope you find new things to love. And I hope your pre-Halloween weekend is wonderful, fun, and spooky. 

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[1] I love Vincent Price. So, he could have his own category too. So, I'll add The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, and House on Haunted Hill.
[2] This film sneaks past my "pagans/witches are evil" filter. The main reason why is because it's clearly not about paganism as much as it is about the establishment being terrified of the next generation (in this case, Boomers.) and their [fill in the blank-but in this case Heathen] ways. It's brilliant for that reason alone. The anti-pagan stuff still bothers the crap out of me for the record, but the film doesn't make the hysterical Christian the hero for being anti-pagan either.
[3] My parents wouldn't allow me to see it as a kid--justifiably so. Therefore, I read the novel which is not nearly as great. "We're gonna need a bigger boat." Will forever be in my lexicon.
[4] I love that the kid is helped by a dead therapist. It warms my heart that he helped a kid even after dying. It's my favorite thing about that movie.
[5] Has some serious problems re: its white CIS male characters, but it has its moments.