Harry Potter

I'm so excited for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I that I've decided to dedicate this week to the entire series. This film looks like it's going to end up being the best of the series so far. It definitely has a darker and more mature tone to it than the previous ones have. I wish that they didn't split it into two separate parts that are being released at different times, but I see why they decided to do something like that. Part II won't be released until July 15, 2011, in the United Kingdom and the United States. If you want to find out when it will be released in your country, for both Part I and Part II, then you can check here. I've also included another trailer below.

Happy Birthday: Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly would have been 81 today. TCM is playing a couple of Grace Kelly movies today, Green Fire and The Swan. I haven't seen Green Fire, but I like The Swan. I still prefer the three Hitchcock films and I want to know why they aren't playing those instead. It feels more like a Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, and To Catch a Thief day to me.

Paranormal Activity

I honestly don't understand what was with all the hype about Paranormal Activity (2007). I was told by quite a few people that this film scared the hell out of them. Clearly, they haven't seen any true scary horror films. Sure, this film had some good scares in it, but it was mainly cheap jumpy scares. I imagine demons to be a lot more imaginative and frightening than this one, like in The Exorcist (1973). The demon in this film was more of a jokester and it only got worse when it was prompted to be so.

The scariest part of this film for me was how stupid the characters were. If you were being haunted by some sort of demon, then why the hell would you go out and buy an Ouija board to try to communicate with it more? Why would you continue to stay in the house after it left a message on the Ouija board? Why would you stay with some jackass who continues to bother the demon and abet it to do something more to make itself known? Micah was clearly an idiot and Katie should have gone somewhere else, especially when she was so scared. If she would have left, then Micah would have stopped the nonsense and followed her. They both had what was coming to them in the end because they really didn't do anything to try to stop or prevent the demon from harming them.

Happy Birthday: Claude Rains

I love Claude Rains and I love his voice. He was a fantastic actor and he was definitely underrated. I love him as Captain Renault in Casablanca and Alex Sebastian in Notorious. I can't decide which of these roles by him I prefer more. I'm leaning more towards Captain Renault right now because that character is more likable than momma's boy Alex Sebastian. Happy 121st Birthday, Claude! Next film I plan on watching with him in it is The Invisible Man (1933). Can you believe that a horror film addict like me hasn't seen this yet? Especially when I love Claude Rains?

The Stepfather

I watched The Stepfather (1987) last night for the first time. I had it set up in my Netflix queue to be sent to me before Halloween, which is was, but I didn't have time to watch it. Seeing as I'm still sick with what seems to be the plague, I was more than happy to just sit, relax, and watch this movie. I liked this film too, another 80's film worth checking out, mainly for Terry O'Quinn's performance as the sociopath Jerry Blake.

Jerry Blake is all about family. He dreams of living the most perfect suburban life with the most perfect family. He marries widows and divorcees with children in order to try to find this perfect family. However, once he realizes that his family is not perfect, it puts him into a psychotic trance that drives him to murder everyone in it. Afterwards, he always alters his appearance and leaves town to start a new life and find a new unsuspecting family. 

A year after his latest massacre, he marries a widow named Susan Maine, who finds him to be absolutely charming and the perfect surrogate father for her teenage daughter Stephanie. Stephanie, however, feels that something about him just isn't right. Obviously, this means that Jerry Blake has not found the perfect family, yet again. How long will it take him to go completely insane? Will Stephanie and her mom get out alive? 

The film is a mix between a 48 Hour Mystery and a Dateline special with a hint of M (1938). I say a hint of M because both serial killers enjoy whistling around the time of their kills or just during a moment of insanity. The killer is much like one you'd find in a 48 Hour Mystery or Dateline special. In fact, the basis of Jerry Blake was loosely concocted from the story of John List, a man who killed his family in 1971 and was on the run until 1989. Of course, since the film was released in 1987, they didn't know whether or not the guy would ever be caught, which is why it's only loosely based on his story. 

Hour of the Wolf

I just finished watching Ingmar Bergman's only horror film, Hour of the Wolf (1968). It's one of the strangest films that I have ever seen. It was a bit confusing about what was real and what wasn't at some points. The film is about an artist, Johan Borg, (Max von Sydow) who has been having nightmares about his past. He's chemically imbalanced and sees very odd visions involving a strange group of people that live in a castle. One night, during the 'hour of the wolf,' or the time between midnight and dawn, he decides to tell his wife, Alma, (Liv Ullmann) about his worst and most painful recollections of his life.

I loved this film because of how interesting, strange, and unnerving it was. I'll have to watch it again sometime to clear up some stuff that I'm a bit confused about. I can't decide if the wife was sane and then went insane by the end of the film. I liked the use of light and shadows in this film. It helped illuminate and emphasize the emotions being felt by the characters. The performances given by the entire cast make the film worth seeing. I'm always impressed by Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann.

What a Day!

I'm home from work today. Yesterday was a day full of a series of unfortunate events for me, but I laughed it off for the most part because it was so ridiculous. I won't bother you with all the details because it was pretty disgusting; it dealt with my nose, my throat, and a lot of blood. Yesterday also involved a terrible train ride in the morning, a random Turkish restaurant with a very nice owner, and an awkward man on a different train ride asking me a series of questions about nothing. Seriously, nothing, I couldn't even tell you what he asked me because none of it made sense. I just nodded and smiled politely because I didn't know what else to do.

Last night, I basically got no sleep due to a severely bad sore throat and severe nose issues. This morning, I decided that I had to find an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor because something was clearly wrong with me and I couldn't possibly put it off anymore. My visit resulted in me having to get my nose cauterized, which was a strange experience and my nose still feels a bit numb. Now, I'm relaxing and contemplating about going to sleep. I hate napping though.

I haven't watched any new movies lately. I miss my horror movies already, so maybe I'll watch some more today. Around Thanksgiving or the beginning of December, I'm thinking of starting another themed series of posts, 25 Days of Christmas or 31 Days of Holiday Classics. I hope all of you are having a great day!