Nancy Nightmare and the Wizard

Ghoulish greetings, fellow horror fiends! On night 10 of #30nightsofhorror I revisited one of my favorite 80's horror movies, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Wes Craven is back! After the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, Mr. Craven realized that there was still a huge market for our pal Freddy. He didn't direct the film, but he wrote the script and you can really tell. This movie has more of the "Elm Street" feel than the second one did. 

We got to learn more about Freddy in this film too. We meet his mother Amanda Krueger and find out how Freddy was conceived. She was raped by a thousand maniacs in an asylum! Man, that's pretty heavy. These films are such a strange and wonderful mixture of comedy and real terror. Anyway, little Freddy never stood a chance. Now we see him continuing the cycle of abuse with a new group of victims and one familiar face. 

The patients are all the last surviving children of the families from Elm Street who tracked down Freddy and burned him alive. They are committed to Westin Hills Asylum, a psychiatric hospital. Every one of these characters is interesting and endearing, which really adds to the movie. Kincaid is my personal favorite. Roland Kincaid is tired of your crap and doesn't mind letting you know exactly how he feels! If you are a psychiatrist, you better not try to blow smoke up his ass. He might snuff you, sucka! RIP, sweet prince. 

The great Freddy scenes in this movie are just endless. The worm! The marionette death! Hypodermic needle fingers! Freddy is at his cruel, comical best in this film. No one else could have made a child killer as lovable as Robert Englund has managed to. Even as he torments and tortures these nice kids, part of me is still always rooting for Freddy. "Welcome to prime time, bitch!"

In other news, Nancy's back! She's a fancy psychology intern now. She fights alongside these dream warriors and is as tough as ever. I'm very thankful for Nancy Thompson! She made my first name cooler. There aren't many women named Nancy out there these days, so I always like when people associate my name with her. Nancy becomes a surrogate mom of sorts to Patricia Arquette's character Kristen as her mom is out getting her groove on and boozing it up. Our Nancy has really grown up fast! She even has a fancy lady business pantsuit in this movie. 

The destruction of Freddy at the end was truly phenomenal, but you know what was even better than that? The song Dream Warriors by DOKKEN! 

I watch this movie every year and I will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. 

Until next time, stay spooky!

Nancy

Good mourning, my ghoulish fiends! Last night's film selection was a real treat on so many levels. I watched Cult of Chucky! I will warn you, there are spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution.

While I enjoyed Curse of Chucky quite a bit, I think I loved Cult of Chucky even more! What's better than one Chucky? Four! Three dolls and one possessed Human. I didn't have many warm and fuzzy feelings about any of the staff or residents of the mental institution that our friend Nica was housed in, so I was rooting for our little friends throughout the movie. Is there anything cuter than seeing those little sneakers sneak up on someone before their demise?

I do have to say that I am a little disappointed about one thing. As I was doing my research for this blog post (as serious journalists like myself do), I discovered that the Netflix version is missing some unrated footage and a post-credits scene! I will have to buy the Blue-ray or DVD to see what that is. There were a couple of pretty brutal death scenes in this film (it's fine cinema, so I will refer to it as a "film," as opposed to a mere "movie). I can't imagine what they left off of the Netflix version. Is it boobs? Extreme violence? If the scene features Jennifer Tilly in any way I am buying it immediately. She was glamorous and fantastic in this film, just as she always is.

I was also extremely impressed with Nica (Fiona Dourif) in this film. When Chucky took over her body, the change in her was incredible! Her facial expressions were on point and I thought she really captured the essence of Charles Lee Ray. I definitely prefer possessed, Chuck-ified Nica to sad, confused Nica. When she drove off into the sunset with Tiffany and little Tiffany, it was the happy ending I was hoping for. Just look at these fabulous ladies! 

I know that I will be watching this one again, so I will probably just go ahead and purchase it. I am a huge fan of Jennifer Tilly, but Fiona Dourif was fantastic too, just as she was in the Curse of Chucky. I may just have to watch that one again now...

Until next time, stay spooky!

Nancy

Hi Ghouls! I hope everyone had a spooky weekend. 

We are very proud to report that we finished our EP, This is the Nightmare Realm this weekend! Our dear friend and co-producer Kenwood Anderson worked so hard on the mixing and mastering, and we are very happy with how everything came out. There are eight songs on the EP. Who knew when we decided to put "Dead Boyfriend" up on YouTube for our friends two Halloweens ago that we would end up recording it for a real release?

As many of you know, when I'm not in the Nightmare Realm with my fellow creatures of the night, I live in Los Angeles. Halloween in Los Angeles is a strange thing. It's very difficult to be scared when it's 90 degrees out and sunny! As much as I try to maintain my spooky lifestyle, when the sun is aggressively smiling at you every day it's hard to capture that mood. Still, I persevere and try to be as gloomy as possible. It isn't easy.

I took a long bike ride along the beach on Sunday. I have only been on a bike once in the past ten years, so that was an adventure. The sun in my enemy and I was sure to use as much SPF 50 as I could get on my skin! I'm amazed that I don't incinerate living here; you wouldn't believe how much I spend on sunblock every year.

I did manage to sneak in some films for #30nightsofhorror, so let's get to that!

On Saturday night I watched George Romero's 1978 classic, Dawn of the Dead. I have seen both versions of this movie, and I have to say the original blows the remake away! Perhaps the 70's vibe adds to the feel, but i think it's because Romero directed it. 

I'm a big fan of indoor malls (don't judge!), especially if they have a vintage 70's/80's feel. I'm not really a big shopper- I just go there for the air conditioning and mall vibe. One of the local malls here allows people to bring their dogs! It's always fun to see all of the cute babies and dogs. Anyway, I am a mall fan. I think that's why this film is so special for me. Imagine spending the end of the world looting the mall and shooting zombies! As ridiculous as that is, it also sounds a little fun to go full Rambo in a deserted mall.

I spent Sunday night with my beloved Michael Myers watching Halloween II.  I watch Halloween and Halloween II every year. I always skip over Season of the Witch for obvious reasons (no Mikey!), and I will usually watch 4 and 5 too. Some years I watch the entires series! I am trying to branch out and watch some new movies this year, so I may not get to see any more of Mikey this month.

I really like that this movie picks up exactly where the last one left off. Is it as good as the original? Absolutely not. I still enjoy it, though. To be honest, I enjoy most films. I am not particularly picky. I may only watch a movie once if it is disappointing, but it's rare for me to really hate a horror film. 

Anyway, Mikey is back to torture Laurie- this time in a hospital. Mayhem ensues. Boy, I'm really quite the movie reviewer, aren't I? Perhaps it's a bad sign that I don't have more to say about this film than that, but it's still a lot of fun. The hot tub murder scene is one of my favorites. So brutal!

For night 9 of #30nightsofhorror I am planning on checking out the new Chucky movie, Cult of Chucky. I love Jennifer Tilly and little Chucky! Can't wait to watch it.

Until next time, stay spooky!

Nancy

Ghoulish greetings! Is there anything better than a good scare? For some reason, The Poltergeist has always been the movie that got to me. I remember coming across this movie on TV when I was a little girl and being absolutely horrified. I was too scared to watch more than a few minutes of it, but I was also intrigued. That is probably why I grew up to be the horror fanatic that you see today. Two words haunted me- "they're here."

As an only child who was constantly in front of a TV set, this scene really did it for me.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I grew up religious. It wasn't a casual type of religious upbringing- it was the kind that made movies like The Exorcist and Poltergeist seem like very real possibilities. Even though I am an adult (allegedly) now and my beliefs have changed, there will still always be a part of me that is terrorized by the idea of demons and possession. Thankfully, I have embraced that side and learned to enjoy the fear.

Poor little Carol Ann. Her parents seemed like moderate types, so they had no idea of the mortal peril her soul was facing when "The Beast" first reared its ugly, demonic head. No, The Gipper can't save you now. This isn't Communism- this is SATAN!

By far my favorite character is the adorable little combination of sweetness, sass and creepiness, psychic Tangina Barrons. No one else could have played this part like Zelda Rubinstein! She was such a ferocious little woman.

If you haven't seen this movie, what have you been doing with your life? I'm not sure whether it's because I overcame my childhood fear by watching it or whether it really is as good as I think it is, but It's a top 5 movie for me. If the acting were bad in the film, it really could have been one of the stupidest movies of all time. I guess that's true with most horror, though, isn't it?

If you haven't read about The Poltergeist Curse, please do so before your next viewing. I also overheard my parents talking about this at some point and it added to the horror of the film for me. I truly thought that the actors had been possessed by Satan and were being picked off one by one because they dared participate in a Satanic film. Ah, the innocence of youth... sweet memories.

Until next time, stay spooky!

Nancy

Good mourning guys and ghouls! For night 5 of #30nightsofhorror I watched the The Woman in Black (2012). I watched this one in the theater when it came out, but due to my terrible memory, it was like new again on my second viewing. I have to be honest- I definitely only went to see this because Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Friggin' Potter, was the lead. Here he is looking handsome in his old-timey suit. Clearly he doesn't trust that monkey.

Poor, poor Arthur (Daniel Radcliffe). The townspeople want absolutely nothing to do with him. He shows up full of good intentions, but he's shunned at every turn. What is interesting is that Arthur has suffered no less than The Woman in Black has. He has every reason to turn into a vengeful psychopath too, but he doesn't. The death of his wife caused him to just kind of go numb. I'll say this for the Woman in Black, though- she's certainly not lazy. Her relentless pursuit of murder and mayhem is an inspiration. Where ever does she find the time?? She looks fabulous while doing it.

I'm a sucker for beautiful sets and costumes and this movie delivered on that front. The house that they filmed in was breathtaking. I found it interesting that despite the fact that it was a "period piece," it still managed to feel modern. The themes were universal and the characters felt like they could be in any period. Terrifying children are timeless.

I actually found this movie to be quite unsettling. Just catching a glimpse of The Woman in Black was enough to make my imagination go wild! These were chills more than scares, which I really enjoy. I will be watching this one again, and I'm not just saying that because Harry Potter looks great in a suit. 

Until tomorrow, my fiends,

Stay Spooky!

Nancy