The Halloween season at Casa di Rodan is officially
underway, for the required annual viewing of Jacques Tourneur’s
Night (Curse) of the Demon is complete.
It’s not as though Brugger and I don't watch scary movies pretty much all the time, but it is an unbreakable tradition to kick off the Halloween season with several of our favorites, such as John Carpenter’s The Thing; Trick R Treat; It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; and, of course, the aforementioned Tourneur classic.
Night of the Demon (to use its proper UK release title) remains my favorite horror movie of all time, and Friday
night was its turn on the screen. It still gives me a case of the creeps,
mainly from remembering how deeply the image of the critter scared me as a
young ’un. And I still love that critter; whatever its imperfections, I don’t
believe the movie would be the classic it is without the thing.
A few of the past week’s cinematic highlights (and low points):
Brugger and I watched
Smile at the theater the other night. We both found it needlessly heavy in
the jump-scare department, but it was at times wonderfully eerie, and we
liked it overall. There was 1999’s The House on Haunted Hill, which we both enjoy quite a bit (I’ll play the heretic here and admit that I prefer it to William Castle’s 1959 original). We watched the new
Hellraiser on
Hulu. This one had some merit, particularly in its exposition about the Lament cube,
yet it still felt unremarkable and ultimately disappointing. We followed that up with the original Hellraiser, which I appreciate on a deeper level than the new one, but I can’t claim that it’s ever been a particular favorite. And we took in the original 1953 War of the Worlds last week, which I have adored since the first time it thrilled me as a seven-year-old. On my own, I watched The Houses October Built, mainly because I remembered it featured some cool haunted attractions and very creepy haunted attraction personnel. My memory was pretty accurate, and I was not disappointed.
One evening this past week, Ms. B. had a hankering to watch The Haunting from 1999, as she finds it entertaining. I hated the movie when it came out,
but I was fine giving it another chance, as I have not watched it since
its original release. Sadly, my opinion hasn’t changed. It’s awful. Not to
fault her enjoyment of it; I can hardly claim to have no affinity for some
admittedly awful movies...
The first of the season’s Halloween parties went off last night, at our friend
Margaret’s place in Rural Hall. And what an affair! Margaret brought in a caterer for the food, offered beverage selections customized to attendees’ tastes, and provided various
favors for the guests (fairly expensive ones, at that, and even cigars for
those who might be interested). So, yeah, I indulged in a cigar (I blame Tony Tremblay for
stoking that long-dormant vice at
Necon back in
July).
Brugger and I will be having a little bash here at home later this month, as will friends
Terry & Beth (who accompanied us to a pre-Margaret-party
visit to
Hanover Park Winery
yesterday afternoon). There may be others.
I do have a very busy week coming up. There will be updates later, no doubt.
Boo!
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As a hobby, Kimberly’s dad builds these lovely miniature houses, barns,
and other town buildings, which she displays before our fireplace. Now they’re lit by Halloween lights — as they should be. |
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| Found at Lowe’s Foods in Lewisville, NC, on our way to friend Margaret’s party. Wowz! |
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| I blame Tony Tremblay for the cigar craving. Note the lovely wine glass, courtesy of friend Margaret. |
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