Triskaidekafiles is a love letter to cheesy cinema from the 80s and 90s, with the occasional dip into other eras. if you're a fan of MST3K, Elvira, Joe Bob Briggs, or just bad horror movies in general, Trisk is the place for you.
MST3K is almost back, and the Kickstarter backers got treated to an early look at the first episode of the new season. Which means *I* got to watch it, and here's my thoughts on the return of one of Trisk's biggest influences.
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Hello once again! The summer time is drawing to a close, fall is creeping in, the leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping, and the harvest comes for us all. And if you think that sounds ominous, just wait 'til October, my friends...
Just a really short WIW post this time around, since most everything was covered in the first half of the month, and I've mostly just been watching Fringe DVDs, and waiting for the new fall season to start. I'll get to that later.
Also on the DVD front is the ever-present MST3K. Got the new set, all the Gamera movies they mocked. That was a really fun ride, and I love making it a theme like that. I'd love to see more sets like that, although I am not sure what they'd do. Very classic MST3K though, and some of their better early episodes, as the show was beginning to hit its stride.
Over the summer, I did stumble across one cool show a little late in the game, but I caught up quickly thanks to reruns, and it was a nice little guilty pleasure over the warm months. That show was Cinemax's Femme Fatales. I love me some anthology shows. Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Tales from the Crypt...all some of my fave stuff from the past. FF is very much in the same vein, although probably closest to Crypt, since it has a host, although Tanit Phoenix is Lilith is much easier on the eyes than the Cryptkeeper. But then again, so is a pile of roadkill. Anyways, the show is about various noirish style stories about women gone bad, or just taking things into their own hands. There is a big revenge theme running through things, and being on Cinemax, you can assume the adult nature of the show, and that is very present. But the show is very well written, the twists are actually very clever most of the time, and the show does not take itself TOO seriously, which is always a plus. The thing that sets this show apart from other anthologies is that all the stories happen in the same town, and in the same time period, more or less, and they are slowly building a mythology in the background. These stories are all interconnected in small ways, and even Lilith becomes part of the story. It seemed like just a little easter egg each episode, but by the time the first season ends, you realise there is a much bigger plan in place, and Lilith has a much more active role. I highly recommend the series if you enjoy well told stories, don't mind a little sex, and want to see men getting what's coming to them. I loved having this show to watch over the summer, and hate that it took me so long to bring it up.
Finally, I escaped briefly to the theatres and saw Apollo 18, the latest in the recent glut of found footage movies. I'm a little in between on the movie. I thought the story was solid and well told, but I don't think it was a good found footage movie. There's a huge problem with who found said footage and put it together for us, but I can almost let that slide, even if it is a bit of a bug in my brain. But the biggest thing about these movies is the sense of reality. You need that sense to really buy into things, and this movie just did not hit that out of the park for me. Not once did I believe these people were real. Not once did this feel like it was really the 70s. The claustrophobia you would expect from being in a space capsule on the moon never quite comes through, and that could have been the highlight of this movie. But the acting isn't half bad, which is good, since there really are only three people in the entire movie. The creatures are creative, and the idea is good. I just think it would have been a better regular movie, rather than trying to force it into a found footage style. Not bad, but needed some work. Which is a shame. I mostly enjoyed it, but the bad things just did more harm. Sigh.
And that is it for now. Swing by in a few days for our next full review, and WIW will be back in October with our breakdown of the new fall shows!
J
Hello, horrorheads! Happy summer! Anyone up for a trip to camp? How's Crystal Lake this time of year?
Anywho, before diving into what images flicker in front of my eyes, I did want to direct everyone's attention to the Movie Cover Gallery which has a minor, but significant change. I split out movies for 2009-2010, and a seperate page for 2011 as I mentioned earlier. But as I kept looking at the pages, something felt wrong, and it felt strange to visit the 2009-2010 movies first. So, I flopped the pages around, and when you visit the MCG now, the first movies that come up are the current year's fare, and the pre-2011 movies are now archied to a seperate page. Chronological made sense, but moving the older movies to a seperate page made just that hair more sense to me. Your mileage may vary, but it's not difficult to find any movie on those two pages.
But onto the watching part of this post. First up was something that slipped my mind last time, the new Teen Wolf show. Forgetting it did give me a chance to watch a few more episodes, and I wish I had tonight's newest episode to watch as well, but I guess that will have to wait. Still, a few episodes in and I am formulating an opinion. And that opinion is a resounding Meh! They took everything you knew and loved about the classic movie and tossed it right out the window. I'm surprised there's even a werewolf in this movie. The humour is gone, the family curse is gone. About the only things that DO remain are a wolf who is a teen. It is so dark, so brooding, and just so, so meh! I have no other word for it. The characters are whiny, and making the show like every other werewolf story, where a guy gets bit and has to deal, makes it JUST ANOTHER WEREWOLF STORY. There is nothing special here. SO disappointing. It's ok, but so nothing special. And it's barely ok. Maybe I just don't get the show, but it's just so bland and unoriginal. I have hope that it's just growing pains, and they find their voice, but those hopes are low.
Speaking of werewolves, I also watched the big screen horrory reimagining of Red Riding Hood. And even if I didn't know this was from the director of the first Twilight film? I'd be able to tell. It has that same clean, sterile style, and the haaaair. Where did people in medieval times find so much product to slick their hair up into points like that? The world looks very fake, very set-like, and way too storybook. Which almost works for the story, considering the subject matter, but it pushes things a little too far, and almost feels like a play. Look of the movie aside...this isn't bad. The story is solid, well thought out, has some interesting twists, and makes sense. The acting is solid, and Gary Oldman, as always, is a blast. There's problems to be sure, but the movie doesn't deserve the bashing it got, I think. It's fun, and an interesting take on the story everyone knows. I did hate how they brought in the, "My, what big ____ you have" stuff. That was WAY too forced, and I don't think we really needed it, other than to say, "See! See! RED RIDING HOOD! In case you missed the title! And the red hood!" But that aside, it's worth seeing if you've got some time to kill and it comes on tv. Not bad at all.
Another side thing that's what I'm watching, but not exactly that big of a thing, is MST3K. I've mentioned, probably ad nauseum, that Mystery Science Theater 3000 is one of the grandfathers of Trisk, and a few weeks ago I was growing nostalgic, missing those Saturday or Sunday mornings where I'd curl up in my chair and watch the newest episode, and it hit me; duh, I have 20 volumes of DVDs. I can recreate my weekly MST3K fix easily. And so I did. A month ago, I grabbed MST3K volume 1, and started from the start of that set, moving forward one episode a week, just like I originally saw a few years of the show. Granted, this is far from all the episodes, and in no particular order, but order is unimportant. Doing the show in order WOULD be fun to do someday, though. As I'm watching, I'm also posting my thoughts on the episodes each week to my LiveJournal. If you're so inclined, you can follow those posts right over here which links to the MST3K tag for my LJ, so all those specific posts will appear there. I don't guarantee every episode I watch being talked about, but if I have something to say, I will. Nothing major, nothing revelatory, but it might be of interest to some people.
And that's enough for now. See you in a week for a new full review!
J
Hello, horrorheads!
I've noticed a weird jump in activity the last few days, and I'll be darned if I can figure out why! But any of you out there reading these words, speak up! Leave a comment! Let us know how you found this site! Let's chat.
Been pretty quiet for movies lately, but there's a few scattered things I've been piling up and watching in my spare time.
Finally grabbed and watched the complete set of the NBC series, Surface. I tried watching it when it was first on, but it never really grabbed me. Watching the whole thing now, I think I can see why. It's a decent show, but a little too family friendly for me. Many people compared it to classic Spielberg, and I can definitely see that comparrison now. Which isn't a bad thing! I love Spielberg! It's just this show was pretty cutesy half the time. But mostly worth watching if you get the chance. The acting is good, and the story is a bit wandering though. Shame there's no real conclusion, but the ride was ok.
Also took in the recently released MST3K volume 20 DVDs. Shout! Factory once again puts out another solid set. I've got nothing more to add to what I've already said about MST3K, just giving them another *ahem* shout-out.
I finally saw My Soul to Take, one of many movies I avoided in the theatres because it was in 3-D. This movie was pretty much stomped all over by reviewers, that I saw. Even the horror-friendly ones. But you know what? I liked it. I thought the story was solid, with just enough twists and red herrings, and a lot of people slam it for no real setup, but I've watched the movie a few times, and they do mostly play fair with the mystery. It has it's cheese, and while Wes Craven used to be quite adept at tapping into that high school voice, I think it's clear he's grown out of touch and doesn't quite know how kids today act and sound. Even so, that's not terrible. Watching this so close to Ripper, the styles of storytelling are so similar in their ideas, but vastly different in execution. Soul succeeds on every level Ripper fails at. Craven has done better, but it was an entertaining 90 minutes or so.
And last, and definitely least, is Birdemic. *shudder* Birdemic. A pox upon my soul. I can't say enough bad things about this movie. I can usually find something good to say, but this one, wow. I am at a loss. This is a brand new movie, and it makes me want to break my own rule about no movies after 2000. It is THAT bad. It needs to have the full Trisking, I think. The movie is astoundingly awful. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. If I get enough response, I will rewatch and dissect the hell out of this turdemic. For you, the readers.
That's all that's been keeping me busy lately. Now, to get back to the next Rippertastic movie. And you thought the first one was bad?
J
Hey hey, horrorheads!
Taking a break from the dungeon, and thought I'd rear my head to talk a little about stuff.
Not much on the old viewertube lately, since we're in that lull of movies coming out in theatres for Halloween, and the DVDs coming out from last Halloween, but a few things do still appear.
Like Parasomnia.
I came across this movie out of nowhere while seeing what releases were coming out, and it seemed like an interesting idea that hasn't been done that much, and written and directed by William Malone. Who? Well, he's probably best known for the 1990s remake of House on Haunted Hill. Which has its problems, and boy are there problems, but I kinda like. So I grabbed it.
But you don't care about that, you want to know if it was any good.
And y'know what? It was! Surprisingly enough, with the other credits to Malone's name. He's not made a lot of good movies.
As before, Parasomnia has problems too. The story is a little too straightforward, the acting isn't great from time to time, the dialogue is a lot stilted, although in fairness a lot of that is relegated to the very noir detectives, and that's clearly deliberate.
The plot circles around a young man who discovers a girl suffering from a sleep disorder that keeps her asleep most of her life, and is only awake for minutes or hours at a time. The reverse of most people, to put it another way. Or the way it feels my days are going lately, to put it a third way. But I digress...
Their relationship gets complicated when Danny discovers Laura's mind has been tampered with by a sociopathic, murderous, mesmerist who was kept tied up in the padded room next to her place at the psych ward.
There's some amazing bloody parts in this movie, Laura is a thoroughly innocent and charming character whom I quite felt for as she's been so manipulated and has no idea what's real and what's a dream. A situation that hasn't been helped by Volpe's hypnotic voice.
The thing I loved most about this movie is the cinematography. The directing is amazing in a lot of scenes, and even the credits are gorgeous. The plot was lacking, but this was an enthralling movie to just watch. Forget the story, just get this movie to watch. The colours, the angles, and editing...Malone may not be a good writer, but man can he direct the crap out of a movie. For a low-budget independent movie, this rivals the look of many bigger horror flicks.
I've seen better movies. I can nitpick this thing to pieces. But the more I watch it, you know what? The more I kinda love it. It's pretty solid, and developes the characters well, before the bodies start hitting the floorboards. And hey, it's got Jeffrey Combs, and he's always fun to watch. It's not the best movie, but it's the one I was most surprised by how much I enjoy it.
Aside from that, I've also just wrapped up watching the newest MST3K DVD boxed set, as I tend to do every few months. Another great release from Shout! Factory. Not much more to say on that. More of the same, really.
There's a handful of newer horror related films sitting next to me waiting to be watched, so I'll cover those in my next WIW post, most likely.
But before I get to those, there's the next movie to watch for this site, so keep your eyes open, and see you in the theatre!
J
Hey, horrorheads!
(Where did I steal that from? I know I've heard it somewhere.)
Not much of interest, actually.
A few weeks ago, I watched set 16 of the MST3K DVDs, and it was quite the set. Probably one of my faves of the Shout! Factory era.
Currently I'm working my way through Lost season 5, since that just came in, and the Dharma Initiation Kit limited packaging is freakin' huge and I want it out of my way. If not for that, I'd be watching the Hunger. More on that later.
I've been going through DVDs slower than normal due to my writing that book from November still. I normally watch two or so hours, but with the writing going on, I've cut it back to one hour, unless it's a movie. So I'm waaay behind.
I'm also still recovering from Blood Freak. Hoo boy. But don't worry about upcoming reviews, I have three I'd LIKE to do. Sadly, I've developed this amazing ability to pick a movie just as it goes out of print, so that's making it a pain to aquire the others I want to do. But fingers crossed, there will be at least one more review, but I'm really hoping to do even more, to make up for my vacation from November.
More to come!
J