The California Blogging Massacre

Syfy's 31 Days of Halloween

2011-10-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Oh sweet mercy, October has arrived. October 1st through October 31st is quite possibly the greatest month of the year for us horror fans. It is a time when us horror fans watch tons of horror movies on cable TV. It is a time when stores sell horror DVDs at a big discounted price. It is a time when "normal people" enter our realm and share the same appreciation of horror movies that we do. It is a time when we dress up in ridiculous costumes and mooch our neighbors of free candy. Oh yes brothers and sisters of horror, the greatest time of the year is here indeed.
As mentioned above, if you have cable TV you most likely get Syfy and AMC. Yearly, these two channels are consistently producing quality content for October. Every year, I get glued to these two channels and I watch as much horror as I can. Watching these two channels brings back lots of memories from my youth, of a simpler time when I would come home from school and watch horror movies all day.
Syfy has released their schedule for their big, month long event: 31 Days of Halloween. Listed below are the films airing during the month of October. I haven't found anything for AMC but we all know their big horror event for Halloween is the season premiere of their hit show, The Walking Dead. Are there any movies you guys are planning to watch from this list?

(All times listed are eastern)

October 1
9:00 AM - Feardotcom (2002)
1:00 PM - Husk
3:00 PM - Boogeyman 2
5:00 PM - Pumpkin Karver, The
7:00 PM - Valentine
9:00 PM - My Bloody Valentine
11:00 PM - See No Evil

October 2
9:00 AM - Wolvesbayne
3:00 PM - Kill Theory
5:00 PM - My Bloody Valentine
7:00 PM - Resident Evil
9:00 PM - Resident Evil: Apocalypse
11:00 PM - Skinwalkers

October 3
1:00 AM - Hybrid
9:00 AM - Skinwalkers

October 4
1:00 AM - Never Cry Werewolf
11:30 AM - Swarmed
1:30 PM - Infestation
5:30 PM - Arachnophobia
8:00 PM - Starship Troopers

October 5
1:30 AM - Starship Troopers
3:00 AM - Insatiable, The

October 6
9:00 PM - Thir13en Ghosts
11:00 PM - 100 Feet

October 7
3:00 AM - Furnace
6:00 PM - Thir13en Ghosts

October 8
3:00 AM - Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire
3:30 PM - Devil's Advocate, The (1997)
6:30 PM - End Of Days (1999)

October 9
10:30 AM - See No Evil
12:30 PM - Saw II
2:30 PM - Saw III
5:00 PM - Saw IV
7:00 PM - Hostel: Part II
9:00 PM - Chain Letter
11:00 PM - P2

October 10
1:00 AM - Seamstress, The
3:00 AM - Dead Like Me (2008)

October 11
7:00 PM - Seconds Apart
9:00 PM - Fertile Ground
11:00 PM - Population 436

October 12
3:00 AM - Clive Barker's Book Of Blood

October 13
3:00 AM - Reeds, The
7:00 PM - Cave, The
9:00 PM - Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
11:30 PM - Wes Craven Presents: They

October 14
1:30 AM - Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 3: Legacy
9:30 AM - Boogeyman 2
11:30 AM - Cursed, The
1:30 PM - Ferryman, The
3:30 PM - Cave, The
5:30 PM - Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

October 15
9:00 AM - Hallowed Ground
11:00 AM - Messengers, The
1:00 PM - Hitcher, The (2007)
3:00 PM - Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead
5:00 PM - Hills Have Eyes 2, The
7:00 PM - Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2009)
9:00 PM - 30 Days Of Night: Dark Days
11:00 PM - Rise: Blood Hunter

October 16
1:00 AM - Skinwalkers
9:00 AM - Mortuary
11:00 AM - Graves, The
1:00 PM - Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2009)
3:00 PM - Fertile Ground
5:00 PM - Seconds Apart
7:00 PM - Task, The
9:00 PM - Prowl

October 17
1:00 AM - Messengers, The
3:00 AM - Dunwich Horror, The
3:00 PM - Task, The
5:00 PM - Prowl

October 18
11:00 AM - Stephen King's The Stand - Part One
1:00 PM - Stephen King's The Stand - Part Two
3:00 PM - Stephen King's The Stand - Part Three
5:00 PM - Stephen King's The Stand - Part Four
7:00 PM - Saw II
9:00 PM - Saw III
11:30 PM - Saw IV

October 20
9:00 AM - War Wolves
11:00 AM - Wolvesbayne
1:00 PM - Never Cry Werewolf
3:00 PM - Toolbox Murders
5:00 PM - Timber Falls
7:00 PM - Chain Letter
9:00 PM - Hostel: Part II

October 21
1:00 AM - Prophecy, The
3:00 AM - Prophecy: The Uprising

October 22
1:00 AM - Rise: Blood Hunter
1:00 PM - Pumpkin Karver, The
7:00 PM - Jeepers Creepers 2
9:00 PM - Halloween (2007)

October 23
1:30 AM - Halloween (2007)

4:00 AM - Splinter
4:30 PM - Jeepers Creepers 2
6:30 PM - End Of Days (1999)
9:00 PM - Haunting In Connecticut, The
11:00 PM - 100 Feet

October 24
8:30 AM - Leprechaun
10:30 AM - Stephen King's The Langoliers - Part One
12:30 PM - Stephen King's The Langoliers - Part Two
2:30 PM - End Of Days (1999)
5:00 PM - Haunting In Connecticut, The

October 25
7:00 PM - 30 Days Of Night: Dark Days
9:00 PM - My Bloody Valentine
11:00 PM - Valentine

October 26
3:00 AM - Bram Stoker's Way Of The Vampire
9:00 AM - Stephen King's The Tommyknockers - Part 1
11:00 AM - Stephen King's The Tommyknockers - Part 2
1:00 PM - Valentine
3:00 PM - My Bloody Valentine
5:00 PM - 30 Days Of Night: Dark Days

October 27
3:00 AM - Wes Craven Presents: They
12:00 PM - Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid
6:00 PM - Hills Have Eyes 2, The
8:00 PM - Devil's Advocate, The (1997)
11:00 PM - Hills Have Eyes 2, The

October 28
1:00 AM - Open Graves
3:00 AM - Pumpkin Karver, The
9:30 AM - Final, The
11:30 AM - Seamstress, The
1:30 PM - Saw II
3:30 PM - Saw III
6:00 PM - Saw IV

October 29
10:30 AM - Return Of The Living Dead: Rave To The Grave
12:30 PM - Death Valley: The Revenge Of Bloody Bill
2:30 PM - Saw IV
4:30 PM - Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
7:00 PM - Resident Evil: Apocalypse
11:00 PM - Halloween (2007)

October 30
9:00 AM - Pumpkin Karver, The
3:00 PM - Resident Evil: Apocalypse
5:00 PM - Underworld: Evolution
7:00 PM - Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2009)
9:00 PM - Halloween (2007)
11:30 PM - Underworld: Evolution

October 31
1:30 AM - Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2009)
3:30 AM - Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers

Zombies: Slow Or Fast?

2011-09-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

As I stand here, before ye zombie crawlers, I ask you this profound, universal question: should zombies, in all forms of media, be able to run fast, or lumber around slowly? It’s one of the greatest debates in the history of nerdom, ranked high up there with other great debates like who shot first, Han or Greedo? Did Jason really beat Freddy at the end of Freddy vs Jason? What’s in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? Will a girl ever date me? I would like to present my point of view from both sides.

Night of the Living Dead was the first movie to introduce the prototypical “zombie”: a person who died and becomes re-animated, who craves human flesh. This zombie walks very slow and has very basic motor skills. This version of the zombie, let’s just call him the “Romero Zombie,” stayed constant for well over 40 years, from Dawn of the Dead to the Night of the Living Dead remake.

The Romero Zombie should be slow because when someone dies, their brain cells die as well. Once a cell dies, it is gone forever. If a person were to come back to life, it would make sense for them to be very slow because they do not have a functioning brain which allows them to do something as simple as running or jumping.

The Romero Zombie’s lack of speed also makes them dangerous to humanity. When a zombie moves slowly you do not hear them coming. You could be running from them, turn a corner and BAM!!!! one or two or twelve or more are there waiting for you, all because you couldn’t hear them from around that corner.

Not only that, but the victims take the zombie’s speed for granted. They look at them moving slowly, and they probably think to themselves “I could easily out maneuver these guys.” But over time those slow zombies become groups and once they surround their victim, it is game over for the victim. There’s nowhere for him to go because he is surrounded by a slow moving hoard of zombies.

On the other side of the coin, we have the recent trend of fast zombies, who emerged this past decade. 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake introduced these quick, savage creatures to the world of horror. Many old school horror fans HATED the fact that this new generation of zombie was just as quick, or sometimes even quicker, than the human beings they were trying to kill. They felt that the speed barrier was the only thing that separated us from them. Our ability to think and reason and run was the big advantage over the undead. Once you make the undead as fast as us, it takes a big advantage away from humans and it makes the zombie almost unstoppable.

There is no clear logical reason why these new zombies are fast either. Yes, we are talking about zombies here, but the Romero zombie moving slowly makes sense: their brain is dead so they have only basic motor skills. What is the reason behind these fast zombies? If they truly are dead, with dead brain cells, how are they able to move so quick? Are they running on pure adrenaline and that’s what makes them quick? Nobody knows, and I don’t think we will ever now. Some studio exec was probably in a meeting with a writer/director, and said “Hey you know how zombies are slow and boring? What if we gave them the speed of a cheetah?”

Despite its flaws, the fast zombie truly is a frightening creature. A quick creature who’s only goal in life is to chase you down and eat you? HOLY SHIT that’s scary. For all the crap horror fans give fast zombies, I guarantee that you if you threw a fast zombie on them, they’ll crap their pants and wish they had a Romero Zombie behind them. I know I would. A fast zombie is similar to a large cat, like a cheetah or panther or lion. They are quick, they have no reason to attack you, and once they get a hold of you, you’re a dead man.

The success of the hit TV show The Walking Dead has shifted the zombie back to a slow moving character, similar to the Romero Zombie. The fast zombie will always be out there for this new generation of horror fans. I prefer the old school, Romero Zombie, but only because that’s what I grew up with, that’s what I know best. I’m sure if you were to ask a horror fan who was born past 1990 or 1995, they would want the faster zombie because we all know kids these days have ADD because of video games and cell phones and computers. Since they grew up in a time where everything is quick and fast, maybe they would want their undead to be fast as well. I don’t know. Either of these two undead types is dangerous and should an actual zombie outbreak happen, I would rather deal with the slow Romero Zombie. At least I can out run and out think these guys.

So I leave this decision up to you guys out there in the blogging world. I’ve presented my case for both sides, so I ask you: what’s your preference, slow or fast? Leave comments below and we will debate this.

Crawl to these other sites:

<a href="http://autumnforestghosthunter.blogspot.com">Ghost Hunting Theories</a>

<a href="http://above-the-norm.blogspot.com">Above the Norm: Bizarre Arizona</a>

<a href="www.zombieseverywhere.org">Zombies Everywhere</a>

<a href="http://hollyshorrorland.blogspot.com">Holly's Horrorland</a>

<a href="http://littlegothichorrors.blogspot.com/">Little Gothic Horrors</a>

<a href="www.anythinghorror.com">Anything Horror</a>

<a href="http://kaybeewrites.blogspot.com/">Katy Bennett Horror Writer and Poet</a>

<a href="http://thisisbubbasplace.blogspot.com/">Bubba's Place</a>

<a href="http://horrorsmorgasbord.blogspot.com">Horror Smorgasbord</a>

<a href=" http://gnostalgia.wordpress.com/">Gnostalgia</a>

<a href="http://petzoldspracticalprose.blogspot.com/">Monkey Man</a>

<a href="http://leogodin.net/">Words and Music</a>

<a href="http://redshoeschronicles.blogspot.com/">Red Shoes Chronicles</a>

<a href="http://thewolfseyes.blogspot.com/">The Wolf's Eyes</a>

<a href="http://mydayinasentence.blogspot.com">My Day in a Sentence</a>

<a href="http://pixieshorrorgalore.blogspot.com">Pixie's Horror Galore</a>

<a href="http://strangestate.blogspot.com">Strange State</a>

<a href="http://halloweenut.blogspot.com">The Misadventures of HalloweeNut</a>

<a href="http://halloween-blues.blogspot.com">Halloween Blues</a>

<a href="http://kweenytodd.blogspot.com">Kweeny Todd</a>

<a href="http://thecaliforniabloggingmassacre.blogspot.com">The California Blogging Massacre</a>

<a href="http://horror-shock.blogspot.com">Horror Shop Lolipop</a>

<a href="http://vanessa-morgan.blogspot.com">Vanessa Morgan</a>

<a href="http://improbablefrontiers.wordpress.com/">Improbable Frontiers</a>

<a href="http://noreallyyoucaneatit.blogspot.com">No Really, You Can Eat It</a>

<a href="http://sohowamitoday.blogspot.com">So How Am I Today?</a>
<a href="http://livingdeadgirlnicoleart.blogspot.com">Art By Living Dead Girl Nicole</a>
<a href="http://twogorychicks.blogspot.com">Two Gory Chicks</a>
<a href="www.dustbunnyinthewind.com">A Dust Bunny in the Wind</a>
<a href="http://aghoulsbestfriend.blogspot.com">A Ghoul's Best Friend</a>
<a href="http://zombiesaremagic.blogspot.com">Zombies Are Magic</a>
<a href="http://cherrynekostw@blogspot.com">Cherry Neko Saves the World</a>
<a href="www.lisafee.com">Tall Tales</a>
<a href="http://atthemansionofmadness.blogspot.com">At the Mansion of Madness</a>
<a href="www.thehauntedrose.blogspot.com">The Haunted Rose Rose</a>
<a href="http://therottingzombie.blogspot.com">The Rotting Zombie</a>
<a href="http://halloweenoverkill.blogspot.com">Halloween Overkill</a>
<a href="http://viviennemoss.blogspot.com/">Out of the Shadows</a>
<a href="http://keyholegallery.blogspot.com">Creepy Glow Keyhole Gallery</a>
<a href="http://creepyglowbugg.blogspot.com">Creepy Glowbugg</a>
<a href="http://bifocalunivision.blogspot.com/">Bifocal Univision</a>
<a href="http://haiku-koo-koo.blogspot.com/">Haiku-Koo-Koo</a>
<a href="http://sherrysoule.com/ ">Sherry Soule</a>
<a href="http://anchorsandroses@blogspot.com">Anchors and Roses</a>
<a href="http://paranormalresearchersgroup.blogspot.com/">Paranormal Researchers Group</a>
<a href="http://whispering-pines-history.blogspot.com/">Whispering Pines History</a>
<a href="http://lovelymissmegs.blogspot.com">Lovely Miss Megs</a>
<a href="http://www.fishblogwash.blogspot.com/">Sean Thomas Fisher's Blogwash</a>
<a href="www.riseandfight.net">Rise and Fight</a>
<a href="http://stumptownhorror.blogspot.com">Stump Town Horror</a>
<a href="http://loliclownshorrors.blogspot.com/">LoliClown's Little Blog of Horror</a>
<a href="http://zombiescantlove.blogspot.com">Zombies Can't Love</a>
<a href="http://booksandbeyondreviews.blogspot.com">Books and Beyond</a>
<a href="http://www.thegravebandits.com/">The Grave Bandits</a>
<a href="http://www.screaminggoregasm.blogspot.com/">Screaming Goregasms</a>
<a href="http://lazydaisylife.blogspot.com">Lazy Daisy Life</a>
<a href="http://ickymonster.blogspot.com">Icky Monster</a>
<a href="www.prettyinfiction.com">Pretty in Fiction</a>
<a href="http://bonjourivyparker.blogspot.com/">Ivy's Closet</a>
<a href="http://justineshalloween.blogspot.com">Justine's Halloween</a>
<a href="http://annie-walls-author.blogspot.com/">Annie Walls</a>
<a href="http://thetimebi.blogspot.com/">Just Johnny</a>

Top Horror Film Pick: 1985

2011-07-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead
Directed by: George A. Romero
Starring: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Richard Liberty
Release Date: July 19, 1985
My Age At Time Of Release: 1 year old

Plot: First came the night, then came the dawn, now the world is experiencing the most frightening day imaginable. The United States and, from the looks of it, the entire world are under control by the walking dead. Modern civilization is extinct and the only thing resembling a stable government is a group of military soldiers, with a handful of scientists, trying to find a cure for the zombie epidemic in an underground bunker in Florida, miles away from the dead.
Dr. "Frankenstein" Logan is the head scientist in the underground bunker, and he really lives up to his nickname: he's experimenting on the bodies of the dead soldiers from the unit that is protecting them, which is lead by the sadistic Captain Rhodes. Dr. Logan's research has lead him to believe that a zombie can be domesticated, just like any other savage animal, and his test subject is a zombie named Bub, who has retained some of his basic motor skills. Dr. Logan feels that Bub is the next phase of zombies, so he requests that Captain Rhodes go back to the surface and retrieve more live subjects for him to continue his research. Of course, nothing goes according to plan and chaos ensues, forcing the soldiers and scientists to fight for their lives and fight off the army of the dead.

Why I Chose This Movie: Day of the Dead is one of the most underrated horror films of all time and suffers from something I call Godfather III syndrome. Godfather III syndrome is when you have the third film in a trilogy trying to live up to the hype and grandiose of the first two movies, and ultimately fails. The Godfather III is a good movie, but when you compare it to the first two, it just can't compete. Think of it like this: the Godfather opens to rave reviews, becomes an instant classic, is nominated for 11 Oscars, wins 3 of them, including best picture, and is considered an American classic. The Godfather is ranked a 10 out of 10. A few years down the road, they make a sequel, the Godfather II, and deja vu, it opens to good reviews, becomes an instant classic, is nominated for 11 Oscars, wins 6 of them, including best picture, and becomes an American classic. If the Godfather is ranked a 10 out of 10, then part II had to be ranked a 15 out of 10. Almost a decade later, they decide to release another one, Godfather III, but this time, something different happens: it opens to mixed reviews, is considered a failure next to the other two movies, gets nominated for 6 Oscars, wins none, and will forever be remembered as the red-headed step-child of the holy trilogy of gangster movies.
Day of the Dead follows the same formula as Godfather III: first two movies are considered classics in the horror community, but the third one can't compare to the first two. I never understood that logic because Day of the Dead, like the Godfather III, is still a damn good movie, but when you compare it to the two masterpieces ahead of it, I could see why everyone thinks they are failures, but they're really not.
Day of the Dead has a lot going for itself. Of all the Romero movies in the undead trilogy, this had by far the bleakest story. In Night and Dawn, it seemed like humanity still had a chance to defeat the living dead, but Day shows you that humanity is almost extinct, and a new dominant species was walking the earth, the undead. The only humans we see through the whole movie are these 12 scientists and soldiers and for all we know, they might be the last 12 people left on Earth.
This movie had the same claustrophobic feel to it that the original Night of the Living Dead had in the sense that in both of these movies, the main characters are confined to a small space with zombies outside, trying to get to them. And just like Night, the humans are losing trust of the people around them and are slowly cracking, making them more dangerous than the zombies. But unlike Night, the humans have some of the zombies chained up like pets, feeding them and trying to teach them to play fetch or something, I forget.
The main reason I love this movie so much is for the super gory scenes that Tom Savini created. Savini went from simple gore effects in Dawn of the Dead to some of the goriest, disgusting death scenes in the history of horror films:

Seeing this as a little kid whet my appetite for super realistic gore so much that I became an instant Tom Savini fan. These two scenes put Savini on the map and made him a household name in the world of horror.

While Day of the Dead may not be a masterpiece compared to the other two movies in Romero's undead trilogy, it works for me because it builds such strong tension to the end and climaxes with some of the best death scenes ever seen on print, and it features one of the greatest dickheads in the history of film, Joseph Pilato as Captain Rhodes. God I hated him so much. I felt Romero ended his original trilogy on a high note with this movie, giving us some hope at the end, even though it did feel rushed, most likely because he ran out of money towards the end of production. If you haven't seen this film or heard the negative reviews about it, I suggest you watch it yourselves, form your own opinion, and see the glory that is Day of the Dead, so you can learn to hate Captain Rhodes too.

Honorable Mentions: Other good horror flicks from that year

Fright Night

Ghoulies

Re-Animator

Return of the Living Dead

See you next time for 1986

45:54

2011-07-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

Title: Creepshow

What's it going to be Harry? Watch Surf Ninjas or drown?

45:54

2011-07-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Title: Halloween 2

Funeral or a wedding? Either way someone's lost their life.

45:54

2011-07-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

Title: Jason X

Why the hell is Jason in space? Shouldn't he be in a lake or Hell or Manhattan?

45:54

2011-07-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

There's an old saying that goes: A picture is worth a thousand words. If I show you a still frame from a movie, no matter what genre it is, completely out of context, will you be able to guess what is going on? Will that one single image give you any significant information about the plot, the character development, or any foreshadowing? Maybe, maybe not. Of course, if you've seen the movie, you already know what is going on. If you haven't seen the movie, then you would have to guess what is going on with the characters in that one specific setting. And that is where the saying comes into play, because anything could be going on and it's up to your imagination to decipher that image and make it make sense to you somehow.

This new section will showcase what is happening in a movie at the 45 minute and 54 second mark. You must be asking yourself "why that number?" The average movie is 90 minutes long, and half of 90 minutes is 45 minutes. By the 45 minute mark of any movie, you should already be introduced to the characters, shown some form of character development, and already begun to enter the rising climax of the story.

Also, my weird OCD mind thinks that the number nine is a perfect number for some reason. If I'm driving down the road and I see a license plate number, I add up all the numbers and if they do not equal the number nine or if they are not a multiple of nine (9, 18, 27, etc) they are failures!!!!!! Sorry, I was off topic, rambling for a bit. I tend to do that a lot. Damn ADD!!!!!!!

My ramblings aside, I now present to you the first movie of my daily "OCD screenshot of a movie at the 45:54 mark", my favorite horror movie, the movie that I blatantly ripped its title off of to name my blog, the original, the one, the only (damn ADD is preventing me from getting to the movie title), the magnificent: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Top Horror Film Pick: 1984

2011-07-01T02:54:00.000-07:00

I decided to showcase one movie from every year I have been alive, from 1984 to now, 2011. This yearly review will be a daily post for my first serious month blogging here at The California Blogging Massacre. I hope you guys enjoy this look back at these films. Some are classics, some have huge cult followings, and some are just plain bad, but either way, these were the films I grew up with that sculpted my views and taste in horror and film in general. So now, without further adieu, my 1984 selection.........

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring: John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp, and Robert Englund
Release Date: November 16, 1984
My Age At Time Of Release: 5 months old

Plot: Nancy Thompson is having horrible, reoccurring nightmares about a gruesome, badly scarred figure who wears a glove with razor sharp knives for fingers. At first, she thinks they are just bad dreams, but when she finds out that her friends are also having similar nightmares with the same eerie figure stalking them, she begins to think that this is no coincidence. One by one, all of her friends begin to die in their sleep, and Nancy soon realizes that the only way to survive is to stay awake, by any means necessary. Nancy begins to investigate who this mysterious figure is, but she soon realizes that this phantom dream killer is linked to a conspiracy that involves her father, a police officer, and other parents in the neighborhood. With lack of sleep beginning to take its tole on her, Nancy decides to fight back against this deranged killer, and will do anything she can to get him out of her dreams, and into the real world where he once existed.

Why I Chose This Movie: This film was released during the peak of the "slasher era" of the 80s. Before A Nightmare on Elm Street debuted, every slasher film had the same formula: A mysterious, disfigured stalker targets a group of teens or young adults and kills them in the most graphic way possible. Sometimes the killer would kill his victims on a holiday or special occasion, like on Valentine's Day or on prom night, or the setting of the killings would be at a usual teen/young adult hang out spot, such as a sorority house or at an amusement park funhouse (I just referenced 4 slasher flicks without giving out the movie title, damn I'm good). Usually one final girl would be left who kills the stalker and saves the day. End movie, roll credits, begin to prepare for shitty sequel.
Audiences at the time became jaded of the slasher film. There were so many slasher films that had the same plot that each new one began to saturate the market. They wanted to see something new, something different, and that's where Wes Craven came in and altered the genre forever. Craven follows the same basic formula as the other popular slashers before him, but he introduces a new little twist that makes his killer, Freddy Krueger, more terrifying than Jason or Michael Meyers: He can come after you when you are in your most vulnerable state, in your dreams!!!!!!!! Holy shit, that is scary! You can, in theory, outrun Jason Voorhees (good luck with that), get in a car, drive to the airport, get in a plane and get the hell out of dodge, and you will survive. But at some point, you have to go to sleep. Hell, you can fall asleep on the plane ride getting away from Jason, but once you do, Freddy Krueger will be there, waiting for you, in his world where he is basically God (How much does that above scenario suck? You just got away from a crazy fucking guy who wears a hockey mask with a big ass machete chasing you through the woods and you fall asleep and now you're being chased through a boiler room by a crazy fucking guy who is burned with a glove that has knives for fingers).
This supernatural twist on the slasher genre made Nightmare an instant classic and introduced the world to Freddy Krueger, the new kid on the block of horror icons, alongside Leatherface, Michael Meyers, and Jason (Come to think of it, if I had to create a Mount Rushmore of horror icons, these four would be it). The supernatural twist of a killer killing you in your dreams probably kept a bunch of kids up all night, terrified to go to sleep. And the fact that Wes Craven says that the idea of dying in your sleep is based on a true story, that increases the fright factor even more.
The Nightmare franchise would go on to produce 6 sequels, a collaboration with another horror franchise, and a shitty remake, but I will always remember this first film as the best of them all. This movie had Freddy at his scariest, not cracking jokes and looking like a shell of his former self. This was the first movie I saw with Robert Englund, and he would go on to be one of my favorite genre actors of all time, ranking right up there with Bruce Campbell. Of all the horror movies that came out in 1984, this is hands down my favorite of them.

Honorable Mentions: Other good horror flicks from that year

Children of the Corn

C.H.U.D.

The Toxic Avenger (I know, I know, it's not a horror movie, but damnit it's from Troma and it has as many good gruesome death scenes as any slasher flick).

See you guys in a bit for 1985.

Matt De Luna, the De Lunatic

Horror Films From 1984 To Now

2011-06-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hello world this is Matt De Luna, the De Lunatic here wishing you all a happy 29th (still working on my intro's, so bare with me. In fact, now that I am thinking of it, that has always been my flaw in writing, whether it is a short story, term paper, essay, etc. I have the whole story laid out in my head with a solid story and a solid conclusion, but I have trouble pulling the trigger on the introduction. I can't start an intro paragraph to save my life. Seriously, I have a homeless guy with a broken Colt 45 bottle pointed at my head sitting right behind me, waiting for me to fuck up this intro. Hopefully I'll get out of this blog entry alive.)

If you read my entry yesterday, you saw that it was my birthday. After going back and looking at all of the events that have happened from 1984 to now, I realized something............ one of my favorite horror films of all time, A Nightmare on Elm Street, debuted the same year I was born. The next year, 1985, the George Romero classic Day of the Dead debuted. In my 27 years of life, some of the best horror films of all time have been released. This got me thinking of a cool idea for this blog, which I plan on debuting later tonight: Each day, I will look back at one year and pick my favorite horror movie of that year, starting from 1984 to present day 2011. Come back later and I hope you enjoy the movies I have picked.

Birthday Blog

2011-06-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

I don't want to sound conceited or anything, (this is my blog, so I can do whatever the hell I want) but today is my birthday. CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP oh thank you, thank you, thank you world. Megan Fox, I'll call you later, stop calling me. QT, we'll watch a grindhouse movie later ok? Kobe, I'll play you HORSE later. Damn, all these celebrities won't leave me alone. People find out it's your birthday and they light up your Facebook, Twitter, and phone like mad. By the way, if Ms. Fox, Mr. Tarantino, and Mr. Bryant are reading this, please don't sue me, it was a joke.
Back to the topic on hand. I was born in 1984 and, if you know your math, that would make me 27 years old today. A lot has happened from June 28th, 1984 to now. There have been 5 US Presidents and 3 major recessions. We elected a black President, had a former actor become the governor of California (again!), and saw China and India become major world powers. But who cares about any of that? I care because we have to look back at the past to make sense of what's happening today. Looking back at the past gives us some perspective on how amazing or not so amazing life is today. So now, for the first time ever on The California Blogging Massacre, I present to you the Matt Birthday Time Capsule, where we look back at the big movies, the big musicians, and the big events of 1984, the year one of the nerdiest guys whoever stepped foot on this blue pearl we call Earth, was born.

Celebrities Born on June 28^th

John Cusack

Kathy Bates

Mel Brooks

Mary Stuart Masterson

Pat Morita

Kare Hedebrant (original kid in Let the Right One In)

Bruce Davidson (Senator Kelly in X-Men)

Famous Movies in June of 1984

Once Upon a Time in America 06/01/84

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 06/01/84

Ghostbusters 06/08/84

Gremlins 06/08/84

The Karate Kid 06/22/84

Bachelor Party 06/29/84

Conan the Destroyer 06/29/84

What Was Happening in 1984?

The AIDS virus is identified
Following on from the PC, Apple releases the Macintosh computer
Following the widespread famine in Ethiopia, many of the top pop musicians of the world join together to form the huge concert festival Band Aid in order to raise money for famine relief
Following the boycott by the US of the Moscow Olympics, the Soviets boycott participation in the summer Olympics in Los Angeles
Recession continues to be a problem in the US and 70 US banks fail in just one year

Cost of Living

Average cost of new house: $86,730.00
Average income per year: $21,600.00
Average monthly rent: $350.00
Average movie ticket: $2.50
1 gallon of gas: $1.10

Technology

AIDS virus identified by French Immunologist Dr. Luc Montagnier
The first Apple Macintosh computer goes on sale
Sony and Philips introduce the first commercial CD players
Sony makes the first 3 ½ inch computer disk
The Space Shuttle Discovery has its maiden voyage
Genetic fingerprinting or DNA profiling was developed and was used by forensic scientists when obtaining evidence in a crime

Pop Culture

MTV hosts its first annual Video Music Awards
Michael Jackson receives unprecedented acclaim for his album Thriller, which would go on to sell over 37 million copies

Popular Films

Ghostbusters

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Gremlins

Beverly Hills Cop

Terms of Endearment

The Karate Kid

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Police Academy

Romancing the Stone

Splash

The Terminator

Amadeus

The Killing Fields

A Passage to India

Popular TV Shows

Magnum P.I.

Dynasty

Falcon Crest

Hill Street Blues

Cagney and Lacey

Cheers

Knight Rider

The A-Team

Jeopardy!

57^th Annual Academy Awards Results

Category	Winner
Best Picture	Amadeus
Best Director	Milos Forman- Amadeus
Best Actor	F. Murray Abraham- Amadeus
Best Actress	Sally Field- Places in the Heart
Best Supporting Actor	Haing S. Ngor- The Killing Fields
Best Supporting Actress	Peggy Ashcroft- A Passage to India
Best Original Screenplay	Robert Benton- Places in the Heart
Best Adapted Screenplay	Peter Shaffer- Amadeus

1st blog for the site

2011-06-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

This is my first post on Blogger and I am a little nervous to publish what I have to say. The whole reason I created this account was so I could write my thoughts on pop culture, from movies to comic books to video games, sort of like a very simple, uncool blog version of Attack of the Show, but without a hot ass Asian hosting it (Olivia Munn is very hot and sexy, the ultimate nerd crush, but I feel her “nerdiness” is all an act. Maybe I will make an entry examining that last statement. In fact, if I had a hot ass Asian like Olivia Munn hosting this blog, I would probably be a millionaire from the ad revenue I would receive from all the nerds coming to my page. Hmmmmmmm, must find Asian host………………………) Those were my intentions, but I got very lazy. When this account was created, I was in my second year of college and I had to focus on work and school, so my dreams of having my ultimate pop culture blog went out the window. I wanted to write an entry at least once a day, just so I can practice my writing skills. Writing is like a muscle, if you work on it every single day you can grow that “muscle” and make yourself better (or I could just copy and paste other people’s thoughts and opinions, which would be equivalent to juicing up on ‘roids, since I am using a muscle analogy.)

I’m done with school now so I have a little extra time to write on this site. With the exception of this entry, I will write about the stuff I love: film, horror movies, comic books, nostalgia from my childhood, and whatever else I like in pop culture. But mainly, I will write about the stuff I love. Enjoy the ride everyone. Matt De Luna, the De-Lunatic