What I'm Watching: Early Novemner, 2010
Hello, horrorheads!
It is November, and I am neck deep in words while working on NaNoWriMo. Things are going great word wise. The story...well, not so much. I'm sure it's fine for an alpha draft, probably even better than that, but I've hit a rough patch that's making me grumpy. And for a horror story, I need more horror.
But I digress! We know I hate everything, and I hate my own stuff the most. Y'all are here to see what I think about other stuff, not stroke my own ego. Or punch it in the kidneys in my case.
So, what AM I watching?
Since I'm so busy writing, not a whole lot. The DVD stacks are getting oppresive in their size. But I do still sneak in a few things here and there.
A most eagerly awaited movie I was waiting for was Red: Werewolf Hunter, a Scifi Channel movie. Yes, something I *wanted* to see on Scifi Channel. This was, surprisingly good! Felicia Day was as awesome as I expected to be, the acting for most of the main cast was solid enough. Stephen McHattie was a little scenery chewer as the werewolf leader, but hey, I expect that from my villains. The effects were cheesey, there wasn't much to the plot that was that special, but when Scifi has such a history of delivering crap, well...this is a cubic zirconia in the crap wishing it was a diamond.
Also on Scifi recently was Sharktopus. Holy shit this was awesome. I was keeping a running death toll and by the end of the movie hit a whopping 30+ deaths. That's over one death every three minutes! This was a terrible movie in all the right ways. I mean, it had a shark/octopus hybrid being chased by a very over the top Eric Roberts. How could this NOT be awesome?
I want DVDs of those two, like right now.
Also of note to the horrory sort of things, is AMC's new series based on the zombie-filled comic book, Walking Dead. I am completely unfamiliar with the comic so I can't compare the two, but the series? The series is marvellous. It is awesome in exactly the opposite ways that Sharktopus wasn't. Pretty good acting, very tense writing, the makeup effects are good, and it has some great emotion. I've often said the best horror is the stuff that makes you feel for the characters, and Walking Dead is very much a character drama. With zombies.
The best part of Walking Dead is that it is entirely unique on television. Name me one other zombie series on right now. Or ever. Supernatural comes close, but that's far more adventury and supernatural horror in general. It fills a niche I didn't even know I had. And I am loving it. Some people have criticized it for saying it's like the first ten minutes of 28 Days Later, which is fine by me since the last half of that movie seriously lost the plot and was pretty terrible.
As a little treat, I got the new MST3K DVD set, which came in a HUGE box to accomodate the newest figurine, Gypsy. So my bad movie warriors grows, and Servo and Crow are joined by their comrade. Her base is a giant coil of tubing, so she takes up a ton of space. I did find a great spot to stick her and watch over me and my sanity though.
And yes, that's this very post I'm working on. How meta is that?
Coming up on the 15th is this year's Triskaidekafiles Thanksgiving turkey, so keep your eyes peeled. And after that, I will see you back here in December for bad Christmas movies.
J
