No real fluff text today. Just my Top 10 Picks for the Movies to Watch on a Dark and Stormy Halloween Night:
1. Halloween
2. House of Frankenstein
3. Psycho
4. Dracula (1932)
5. Brides of Dracula
6. Monster Squad
7. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
8. Night of the Living Dead
9. Plan 9 from Outer Space
10. Godzilla vs. Megalon
Nerd is the New Cool, signing off
Happy Halloween
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Next Post on Wednesday
With just three days left in our Countdown to Halloween, I am postponing this weeks blog entry until Wednesday, October 31.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Top Ten...?
So I lost my flashdrive.
Less “lost,” more “misplaced,” and by “misplaced” I mean “lost.” As in, it’s on the Island with Jack, Kate,
and Sawyer. I think the Smoke Monster
may have it. Which, if you have the Avengers
Blu-ray you know, means it’s in SHIELD’s hands now.
But I digress, the point is, my flashdrive, with my Top Ten
list ideas, is MIA – also a lot of other important things like my most up to
day resume and my other writings. Long story short (too late), I’m winging
it.
So I need to come up with an idea for a Top Ten, come up
with what goes on that Top Ten, and then write it up, proof read it
(Why start now?), put it in blogger, and publish. All by midnight. No problem, sounds easy, that’s still hours
away…
Three Hours Later
OK, I got nothing. I
have been planning on doing a Top Ten Hottest Nerds list but
I have one pretty mapped out on my flashdrive and wouldn’t want to have to
start over, plus Top Ten Hottest needs pics and I’m a little scared of getting
sued for using somebody else’s copyrighted images for that so I’m still working
on the logistics there but hey, stay tuned.
It’ll happen.
Also, I’m still on the whole Countdown to
Halloween thing (10 Days to Go!), and that isn’t exactly a Halloween
themed Top Ten. I’d need something more
like the Top Ten Goriest Slasher Movie Deaths or the
Top Ten Most Ironic Horror Movie Deaths. Oh, or maybe the Top Ten Best Horror
Movie Nude Scenes do a little homage to Joe Bob
Briggs and the breast count from his Drive-In Movie
Reviews. But no my mom reads
this and I can’t go be talking about Boobies and Booties (unless that has
something to do with pirates).
I could to my Top Ten Favorite Scooby-Doo Episodes
or the Top Ten Looney Tunes Cartoon Shorts – of the monster
ones of course – but with my last list being Halloween Cartoons, that might be
a little too soon.
I’ve also thought about doing a Top Ten Greatest
Horror Comics list, but I just can’t bring myself to do it, I haven’t
read enough of the ones that really need to make it to do the list justice – I’ve
read very little Warren (Creepy, Eerie,
etc.) and even less EC (Tales from the Crypt et al). Kinda related, but less Halloweenie, I could
do a Top Ten Comics That Should Be Made Into Movies But Won’t
Be – definitely have to work on the title for that one – I’m sure it
would have several horror titles on it but still one Halloween enough.
More on subject would be a Top Ten Reasons Allison
Scagliotti Should Play Cassie Hack (#AllisonScag4Cassie). But other than she’s awesome I can’t think of
anything off hand.
So, I just don’t know. Guess I’ll
just get started on my old stand by…The Top Ten Reasons I Didn’t Write
My Blog This Week…
But in the mean time, I wanna know what Top Ten lists you want me to write,
either from the list above or just from out in the ether. Leave a comment below
or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool.
Also, because as said before, she's awesome, you can follow Allison Scagliotti on twitter at @allisonscag
Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Top 10 Halloween Cartoons
Only 24 Days left ‘til Halloween and here at Nerd Is the New
Cool, our countdown continues. I’ve
always been a big cartoon guy. I have
several Looney Tunes Gold Collections and a number of other
old time cartoon sets – Wal-Mart’s $1 & $5 DVDs have been my friends in
both the cartoon and the horrible sci-fi/horror/fantasy movie areas.
9. Mad Monster Party (1967, Rankin/Bass) – I’m not actually a huge fan of this one, but it seemed wrong to leave it out. Made by the same company as Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and dozens of other Christmas specials, Mad Monster Party brings together all the classic monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s Creature and his Mate, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and some generic versions of the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and King Kong (called It).
7. The Simpson’s Halloween Specials (aka Treehouse of Horror) (1990-Present, Fox) – Another one that is hard to include. The first four belong on the list without question. The Raven, King Kong, and Dracula segments alone are priceless. Kang and Kodos are among the all-time great Simpsons characters. Unfortunately, later Treehouse of Horror episodes pale in comparision and the most recent one I watched – 2008’s XIX featuring “Untitled Robot Parody” and “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse” – was downright unfunny.
6. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998, Warner Bros./Hanna-Barbera) – OK, not a Halloween cartoon, I get that. Still, Scooby-Doo is the ultimate scary cartoon series, and this is probably the best of the movies/specials, and is top ten Scooby anything (probably #2 after “Jeepers, It’s the Creeper”).
5. A Disney Halloween (1983, Disney) – Made from two previous Disney specials (1982’s Disney’s Halloween Treat and 1977’s Disney’s Greatest Villains), this special is the reason I liked Disney cartoons growing up. A Disney Halloween shows clips from classic Disney movies like Snow White, Fantasia, and Legend of Sleepy Hallow as well as cartoon shorts like Donald Duck and the Gorilla and Skeleton Dance among many others.
2. The Great Bear Scare (1983) – I haven’t seen this one in years, but it was among my all-time favorites as a child. I had a VHS copy we had recorded off TV – also on the tape was the movie Dinosaurus! – which I watched year round until it the tape died.
Many, but not all, of the above videos are available on DVD, check out Amazon.com or your local specialty video store. Unfortunately neither The Great Bear Scare nor A Disney Halloween is among them. Write your congressmen to try to get that rectified – P.S. Do Not write your congressmen to try to get that rectified.
Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.
So as we get closer to The Great Pumpkin’s
rise from the pumpkin patch – should I have said “Spoiler Alert” before that?
cause it’s definitely a give away to what comes below – I thought it fitting to
bring you my all-time favorite Top Ten Halloween
Cartoons.
There are lots of great Halloween specials. Shrek and
Monsters Vs. Aliens have both recently done amusing ones,
and everything from the Flintstones to Pinky and
the Brain has at least had an episode dedicated to the holiday.
10. Pooh’s
Heffalump Halloween (2005, Disney) – it’s hard for me to
put this one on the list, mostly because it’s too new – though I will have
other new ones down below – but it has been a major part of my family’s
Halloween traditions since it came out.
One of a series of Winnie the Pooh movies that have destroyed the
current generations understanding of Heffalumps, it’s still a fun and enjoyable
movie.
9. Mad Monster Party (1967, Rankin/Bass) – I’m not actually a huge fan of this one, but it seemed wrong to leave it out. Made by the same company as Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and dozens of other Christmas specials, Mad Monster Party brings together all the classic monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s Creature and his Mate, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and some generic versions of the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and King Kong (called It).
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the
Wolf-Man (2000, Universal) – When Theodore is bitten by a werewolf;
it’s up to Alvin and Simon, with the aid of a “gypsy” TV horror movie hostess,
to save him. Much better than the
Chipmunks other Halloween fair – 1999’s Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet
Frankenstein.
7. The Simpson’s Halloween Specials (aka Treehouse of Horror) (1990-Present, Fox) – Another one that is hard to include. The first four belong on the list without question. The Raven, King Kong, and Dracula segments alone are priceless. Kang and Kodos are among the all-time great Simpsons characters. Unfortunately, later Treehouse of Horror episodes pale in comparision and the most recent one I watched – 2008’s XIX featuring “Untitled Robot Parody” and “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse” – was downright unfunny.
6. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998, Warner Bros./Hanna-Barbera) – OK, not a Halloween cartoon, I get that. Still, Scooby-Doo is the ultimate scary cartoon series, and this is probably the best of the movies/specials, and is top ten Scooby anything (probably #2 after “Jeepers, It’s the Creeper”).
5. A Disney Halloween (1983, Disney) – Made from two previous Disney specials (1982’s Disney’s Halloween Treat and 1977’s Disney’s Greatest Villains), this special is the reason I liked Disney cartoons growing up. A Disney Halloween shows clips from classic Disney movies like Snow White, Fantasia, and Legend of Sleepy Hallow as well as cartoon shorts like Donald Duck and the Gorilla and Skeleton Dance among many others.
4. Daffy Duck’s
Quackbusters (1988, Warner Bros.) – Much like A
Disney Halloween, Quackbusters is primarily a clip
show, albeit one with a wrapping story of new material tying the old material
together. Daffy inherits a fortune from a rich old man,
and uses the money to open a ghost hunting business with employees Bugs Bunny
and Porky Pig (and Porky’s pet cat Sylvester).
3. Garfield’s Halloween
Adventure (1985, aired on CBS) – Garfield and Odie go
trick-or-treating dressed as pirates and encounter the ghosts of real
pirates. A fun romp and one of the best
of the Garfield specials.
2. The Great Bear Scare (1983) – I haven’t seen this one in years, but it was among my all-time favorites as a child. I had a VHS copy we had recorded off TV – also on the tape was the movie Dinosaurus! – which I watched year round until it the tape died.
1. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966, aired on CBS) – the ultimate Halloween classic. We should all have a little bit of Linus’s optimism
and childlike faith, a little bit of Charlie Brown’s eternal trust and faith in
his fellow man (child), a little bit of Lucy’s cynicism to balance them out,
and a little bit of Snoopy’s cool.
So there you have it. My Top Ten Greatest
Halloween Cartoons. Now I wanna here
from you. Let me know your favorite Halloween special(s) in the comments below
or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool.
Many, but not all, of the above videos are available on DVD, check out Amazon.com or your local specialty video store. Unfortunately neither The Great Bear Scare nor A Disney Halloween is among them. Write your congressmen to try to get that rectified – P.S. Do Not write your congressmen to try to get that rectified.
Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Top Ten Scream Queens
Greetings Nerds and Geekgirls, it’s time for the official
Halloween countdown to begin. Last week
we talked about Zombies and this week I want to move in the same general scary
direction but talking about that most delectable of horror movie archetypes: the
Scream Queen.
Down through the ages – as long as there have been horror movies, there have been scream queens. Usually with one raining supreme with lesser scream queens – scream princesses? – filling the sidelines (rather than give examples here, I’ll discuss the biggies in a moment down below).
Early scream queens tended toward damsels in distress types, needing rescued by the films “knight in shining armor” or even falling under the knife, not surviving the film. Later, the slasher film’s Final Girl replaced the classic model, more often saving themselves than waiting for a rescuer – most outlived their romantic interests.
So here are my Top Ten Scream Queens (With a Few Honorable Mentions), presented in chronological order based on years of reign. Criteria is based as much on importance as anything else; however, hotness and coolness – which often come hand in hand – are both factors.
1. Mary Philbin (1903-1993) Reign: Silent Era - Mary Philbin wasn’t necessarily the first of the “silent screamers” , but she is by far the most notable. Everyone remembers the “red” of the blood in the Psycho shower scene, and everyone remembers the “sound” of Mary’s Phantom of the Opera scream. Not her only foray into horror, she also appeared notably in The Man Who Laughs.
2. Fay Wray (1907-2004) Reign: 1932-1934 - Also appearing in Doctor X, The Vampire Bat, Mystery of the Wax Museum, and The Most Dangerous Game, Fay Wray is best known as a scream queen due to her high decibel appearance in King Kong as the love interest of a giant ape.
3. Evelyn Ankers (1918-1985) Reign: 1941-1945 - The disputed queen of Universal Horror, Evelyn Ankers starred, usually – but not always – opposite Lon Chaney, Jr., in classics ranging from the Abbott and Costello comedy Hold That Ghost to Captive Wild Woman to Mad Ghoul and appeared along with the Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster (in Ghost), Dracula (in Son), and the Invisible Man (in Revenge).
Concurrent to Evelyn (1940-1944) and also mostly at Universal, Anne Gwynne (1918-2003) is our first Honorable Mention. She appeared opposite Lugosi and Karloff in Black Friday, shared screen time with Evelyn in Weird Woman, and tangled with Dracula but neither the Wolf Man nor the title monster in House of Frankenstein.
4. Julie Adams (b. 1926) Reign: 1954 - Though her only significant horror role was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Julie Adams legacy as a sci-fi/horror icon lasts well into the present and her place as scream queen is insured by that performance. Though not groundbreaking – all of our previously mentioned scream queens played to same “Beauty” to the monster’s “Beast” role – Julie set the tone for all the other short lived screamers of the 1950s Atomic Age Sci-Fi/Horror films.
5. Janet Leigh (1927-2004) Reign: 1960 - Like Julie Adams before her, Janet Leigh was a one scream wonder, but oh, what a scream. The star and heroine of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Janet - SPOILER ALERT! - dies a third of the way into the film in a blood bath (blood shower?) that is one of the first “graphic” scenes of violence in movies. SPOILERS END Janet’s scream is among – if not the – most famous screams in motion picture history.
6. Tie: Barbara Steele (b. 1937) Reign: 1960-1969 and Ingrid Pitt (1937-2010) Reign: 1964-1973) – Two British scream queens, one an export more famous for her Italian and American films, the other the ultimate Hammer Girl. Barbara Steele stole the crown from Janet Leigh as it was still settling on her head and she and Ingrid Pitt have overlapping claim to it for most of the high of their careers. Barbara starred notably in Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, Roger Corman’s The Pit and the Pendulum, and Honeymoon with a Stranger, alongside Janet Leigh. Ingrid appeared in Hammer’s Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula, Amicus’s The House That Dripped Blood and The Wicker Man.
Honorable Mentions: It’s hard to narrow a list like this down, and it’s hard to decide who counts. Linda Blair (b. 1959) for example was only 14 when she starred in The Exorcist, the role that most qualifies her for scream queen status, but that seems too young to wear the crown. Marilyn Burns (b. 1950) seems like the next choice to replace Steele/Pitt, but like Julie Adams and Janet Leigh, her contribution of only one significant film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a drawback – as significant as the film is, Marilyn role isn’t that significant as a scream queen. I don’t mean to say Marilyn wasn’t a scream queen, but she just wasn’t one of the greatest, in my humble opinion.
7. Jamie Lee Curtis (b. 1958) Reign: 1978-1984 - If only one name had been mentioned in this blog, only one scream queen named, this would be she. Jamie Lee Curtis: The Scream Queen. It almost feels cheap to bother naming her films: Halloween and Halloween II, The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train.
The 80s were the age of the scream queen. Brinke Stevens, Adrienne Barbeau, Michelle Bauer, Julie Strain, picking the greatest is enough to make someone scream themselves. But…
8. Linnea Quigley (b. 1958) Reign: 1984-? - Linnea Quigley, the ultimate – disputed – scream queen of the 80s. Her numerous films – including Return of the Living Dead, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (best B-Movie name of all time?), and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers to name but a few – are genre classics, she even briefly appears in a Freddy Kruger movie.
9. Drew Barrymore (b. 1975) Reign: 1991-1996 - In what I expect to be the most disputed name on the list, Drew Barrymore’s horror films are limited but significant. Her earlier films included E.T. (though not horror, a very significant Sci-Fi film and like other Sci-Fi film before it – The Day the Earth Stood Still comes to mind – a major influence on horror movies to come), Cat’s Eye, and Firestarter (both from works by Stephen King). She became a scream queen thanks to film like Poison Ivy and was significant enough to be offered the lead role in Scream which she passed on choosing instead to be SPOILER ALERT! the “First 15” victim SPOILERS END.
10. Neve Campbell (b. 1973) Reign: 1996-c. 2000.
Down through the ages – as long as there have been horror movies, there have been scream queens. Usually with one raining supreme with lesser scream queens – scream princesses? – filling the sidelines (rather than give examples here, I’ll discuss the biggies in a moment down below).
Early scream queens tended toward damsels in distress types, needing rescued by the films “knight in shining armor” or even falling under the knife, not surviving the film. Later, the slasher film’s Final Girl replaced the classic model, more often saving themselves than waiting for a rescuer – most outlived their romantic interests.
So here are my Top Ten Scream Queens (With a Few Honorable Mentions), presented in chronological order based on years of reign. Criteria is based as much on importance as anything else; however, hotness and coolness – which often come hand in hand – are both factors.
1. Mary Philbin (1903-1993) Reign: Silent Era - Mary Philbin wasn’t necessarily the first of the “silent screamers” , but she is by far the most notable. Everyone remembers the “red” of the blood in the Psycho shower scene, and everyone remembers the “sound” of Mary’s Phantom of the Opera scream. Not her only foray into horror, she also appeared notably in The Man Who Laughs.
2. Fay Wray (1907-2004) Reign: 1932-1934 - Also appearing in Doctor X, The Vampire Bat, Mystery of the Wax Museum, and The Most Dangerous Game, Fay Wray is best known as a scream queen due to her high decibel appearance in King Kong as the love interest of a giant ape.
3. Evelyn Ankers (1918-1985) Reign: 1941-1945 - The disputed queen of Universal Horror, Evelyn Ankers starred, usually – but not always – opposite Lon Chaney, Jr., in classics ranging from the Abbott and Costello comedy Hold That Ghost to Captive Wild Woman to Mad Ghoul and appeared along with the Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster (in Ghost), Dracula (in Son), and the Invisible Man (in Revenge).
Concurrent to Evelyn (1940-1944) and also mostly at Universal, Anne Gwynne (1918-2003) is our first Honorable Mention. She appeared opposite Lugosi and Karloff in Black Friday, shared screen time with Evelyn in Weird Woman, and tangled with Dracula but neither the Wolf Man nor the title monster in House of Frankenstein.
4. Julie Adams (b. 1926) Reign: 1954 - Though her only significant horror role was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Julie Adams legacy as a sci-fi/horror icon lasts well into the present and her place as scream queen is insured by that performance. Though not groundbreaking – all of our previously mentioned scream queens played to same “Beauty” to the monster’s “Beast” role – Julie set the tone for all the other short lived screamers of the 1950s Atomic Age Sci-Fi/Horror films.
5. Janet Leigh (1927-2004) Reign: 1960 - Like Julie Adams before her, Janet Leigh was a one scream wonder, but oh, what a scream. The star and heroine of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Janet - SPOILER ALERT! - dies a third of the way into the film in a blood bath (blood shower?) that is one of the first “graphic” scenes of violence in movies. SPOILERS END Janet’s scream is among – if not the – most famous screams in motion picture history.
6. Tie: Barbara Steele (b. 1937) Reign: 1960-1969 and Ingrid Pitt (1937-2010) Reign: 1964-1973) – Two British scream queens, one an export more famous for her Italian and American films, the other the ultimate Hammer Girl. Barbara Steele stole the crown from Janet Leigh as it was still settling on her head and she and Ingrid Pitt have overlapping claim to it for most of the high of their careers. Barbara starred notably in Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, Roger Corman’s The Pit and the Pendulum, and Honeymoon with a Stranger, alongside Janet Leigh. Ingrid appeared in Hammer’s Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula, Amicus’s The House That Dripped Blood and The Wicker Man.
Honorable Mentions: It’s hard to narrow a list like this down, and it’s hard to decide who counts. Linda Blair (b. 1959) for example was only 14 when she starred in The Exorcist, the role that most qualifies her for scream queen status, but that seems too young to wear the crown. Marilyn Burns (b. 1950) seems like the next choice to replace Steele/Pitt, but like Julie Adams and Janet Leigh, her contribution of only one significant film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a drawback – as significant as the film is, Marilyn role isn’t that significant as a scream queen. I don’t mean to say Marilyn wasn’t a scream queen, but she just wasn’t one of the greatest, in my humble opinion.
7. Jamie Lee Curtis (b. 1958) Reign: 1978-1984 - If only one name had been mentioned in this blog, only one scream queen named, this would be she. Jamie Lee Curtis: The Scream Queen. It almost feels cheap to bother naming her films: Halloween and Halloween II, The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train.
The 80s were the age of the scream queen. Brinke Stevens, Adrienne Barbeau, Michelle Bauer, Julie Strain, picking the greatest is enough to make someone scream themselves. But…
8. Linnea Quigley (b. 1958) Reign: 1984-? - Linnea Quigley, the ultimate – disputed – scream queen of the 80s. Her numerous films – including Return of the Living Dead, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (best B-Movie name of all time?), and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers to name but a few – are genre classics, she even briefly appears in a Freddy Kruger movie.
9. Drew Barrymore (b. 1975) Reign: 1991-1996 - In what I expect to be the most disputed name on the list, Drew Barrymore’s horror films are limited but significant. Her earlier films included E.T. (though not horror, a very significant Sci-Fi film and like other Sci-Fi film before it – The Day the Earth Stood Still comes to mind – a major influence on horror movies to come), Cat’s Eye, and Firestarter (both from works by Stephen King). She became a scream queen thanks to film like Poison Ivy and was significant enough to be offered the lead role in Scream which she passed on choosing instead to be SPOILER ALERT! the “First 15” victim SPOILERS END.
10. Neve Campbell (b. 1973) Reign: 1996-c. 2000.
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