Oct 2018
Halloween and horror go together hand in hand, but not all stuff with Halloween is horror. Sometimes, they go a very family-friendly route with that shit. We have the upcoming Goosebumps movie, for example. It's set on Halloween, hence the subtitle "Haunted Halloween", but it's kind of impossible for a movie to be family-friendly AND horror, don't you think?
I watched Eli Roth's new movie The House with a Clock in its Walls recently, and like most of you, I was wondering how Eli Roth could make a movie PG. Now, I'll admit, I think Eli Roth is a cool motherfucker, and I've enjoyed all of his movies. He made this new movie based on some book, and I guess that could explain enough, but HE still made it, and while it tries to be horror-ish, it never really gets there.
It might be that kind of situation like with Robert Rodriguez, who made some gnarly movies, then made some shitty movies like Spy Kids, because he wanted something his kids could enjoy. I don't think Eli Roth has any kids, but what do I know? But either way, the movie was alright, but I couldn't quite say it's a horror movie myself.
Not that any of that matters. Just going on a rant here, and we need a bit of context for that. I was thinking about Kenny and Company (1976), Don Coscarelli's pre-Phantasm debut, which has a few familiar faces in what is generally a casual family film. Nothing great about it, but I do like it, as well as the few scenes that occur during Halloween night.
Donnie Darko (2001) is another one that has a plot centered around Halloween, or when the world is going to end. The movie is set in October, and leads up to the alleged date, where shit happens, and then... doesn't, apparently? I like the movie. I didn't at first, but it's grown on me, mostly because Patrick Swayze playing a pedophile is unique. This again prompts the curiosity about whether or not a dark(o) and gritty movie set on Halloween is or isn't a horror movie. I don't think Donnie is a horror movie though. Just weird.
The Crow (1994) is centered around Devils Night (October 30th) and is basically a Halloween movie, but not quite horror. Same goes for the sequel, which is mostly centered around the Day of the Dead.
Then, you have straight up family-friendly Halloween movies, like Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, The Halloween Tree, Ernest Scared Stupid, etc.
Do you have any thoughts on non-horror Halloween movies, or do you just stick with the horror ones? Can a family-friendly movie be horror? What are your thoughts on this mess?
I watched Eli Roth's new movie The House with a Clock in its Walls recently, and like most of you, I was wondering how Eli Roth could make a movie PG. Now, I'll admit, I think Eli Roth is a cool motherfucker, and I've enjoyed all of his movies. He made this new movie based on some book, and I guess that could explain enough, but HE still made it, and while it tries to be horror-ish, it never really gets there.
It might be that kind of situation like with Robert Rodriguez, who made some gnarly movies, then made some shitty movies like Spy Kids, because he wanted something his kids could enjoy. I don't think Eli Roth has any kids, but what do I know? But either way, the movie was alright, but I couldn't quite say it's a horror movie myself.
Not that any of that matters. Just going on a rant here, and we need a bit of context for that. I was thinking about Kenny and Company (1976), Don Coscarelli's pre-Phantasm debut, which has a few familiar faces in what is generally a casual family film. Nothing great about it, but I do like it, as well as the few scenes that occur during Halloween night.
Donnie Darko (2001) is another one that has a plot centered around Halloween, or when the world is going to end. The movie is set in October, and leads up to the alleged date, where shit happens, and then... doesn't, apparently? I like the movie. I didn't at first, but it's grown on me, mostly because Patrick Swayze playing a pedophile is unique. This again prompts the curiosity about whether or not a dark(o) and gritty movie set on Halloween is or isn't a horror movie. I don't think Donnie is a horror movie though. Just weird.
The Crow (1994) is centered around Devils Night (October 30th) and is basically a Halloween movie, but not quite horror. Same goes for the sequel, which is mostly centered around the Day of the Dead.
Then, you have straight up family-friendly Halloween movies, like Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, The Halloween Tree, Ernest Scared Stupid, etc.
Do you have any thoughts on non-horror Halloween movies, or do you just stick with the horror ones? Can a family-friendly movie be horror? What are your thoughts on this mess?
To be fair, his name's before the title on the poster. I've only seen it a few times and not in a long time, so that's possibly why I thought it was one of his movies.
