Movie Night! 'Cupcake the Rabbit' Edition
It has been a bit of a week, what with one thing and another, and one of those things was having to have my kids pet rabbit put down on Friday afternoon. I’m a ‘dog person’ normally but Cupcake was the closest you could get to a dog in rabbit form :o) She was always up for having a fuss made of her and when I looked after my ex partner’s house, Cupcake would come and sit by my feet all day while I was working. She wouldn’t take any nonsense from the cat either. Until the arthritis got too much that is. She wasn’t really my pet but I’ll miss her anyway.
Anyway…
Yesterday wasn’t really a day for reading; more a day for sitting in front of the telly and letting movies happen to me :o) Actually, so was Friday night, come to think of it. Let me tell you about some of the movies that I watched…
‘Empire of the Ants’ (1977)
A shady land-developer takes prospective investors on a tour of her latest business opportunity, unaware that radioactive waste has leaked and caused the local ant population to grow in size. And now, all those giant ants are after just one thing…
And that thing is… sugar. I mean of course it is, ants love sugar, but I was stuck between appreciating the realistic motivation but also thinking that surely giant ants would be more ambitious than just taking over the nearest sugar refinery.
Either way, ‘Empire of the Ants’ wasn’t bad in terms of the ‘ant effects’ but the human cast were all a little too interchangeable and no-one really stood out, not even Joan Collins. Not a bad ‘creature feature’ but didn’t have quite enough to get to the next level.
‘The Dunwich Horror’ (1970)
A college girl falls in love with a young man who happens to be the last descendant of an inhuman race that inhabited the Earth when it was young. He wants to bring his people back to life; she is the potential sacrifice that can make it happen. Her college professor is perhaps the only person who can stop it from happening…
This was a bit more like it. ‘The Dunwich Horror’ is a real slow-burner but really made use of that to not only build up the tension but also to ‘off’ various supporting cast at just the right moments. Dean Stockwell was pretty villainous too and as someone who has only really seen him in ‘Quantum Leap’ (I think), that was a real eye-opener. I hadn’t planned on watching ‘The Dunwich Horror’, it just popped up, but I’m glad that I did. Now I really need to read the story (I know)…
‘The Video Dead’ (1987)
A brother and sister make the new family home ready, for their parents return, and take delivery of a television. This is no ordinary television though… It is a portal through which the murderous undead can enter our world.
You know me by now. If a movie blurb includes the word ‘zombie’ then I’m all over it. I came to ‘The Video Dead’ on the promise of zombies; I stayed for the zombies that took time, after a kill, to appreciate how funny their kills were. Seriously, they just stood there and chuckled together. I also stayed for the zombie tea-party at the end (again, seriously…)
‘The Video Dead’ is as daft as anything then but somehow all the more engaging for it. I can’t see myself watching it again but I’m glad I gave it a go.
‘Howling III’ (1987)
A sociologist is looking for proof that werewolves exist and when a werewolf runs away from her family, he is about to get all the proof he needs… and more.
I’ve never seen any of the ‘Howling’ movies and ‘Howling III’ was on Prime so I thought, ‘why not?’ :o) I thought it was kind of sweet actually, with a really cute baby werewolf part of a hidden werewolf town that really, just wants to be accepted by fearful humans. The only problem is, I don’t think ‘really sweet’ is what this movie was aiming for… The practical effects are suitably supernatural and bloody; the actual plot felt like it was trying to wrap up a trilogy rather than be a horror movie. Still, I’ve got a soft spot for a horror film that’s all sweet and cozy really :o)
Anyway…
Yesterday wasn’t really a day for reading; more a day for sitting in front of the telly and letting movies happen to me :o) Actually, so was Friday night, come to think of it. Let me tell you about some of the movies that I watched…
‘Empire of the Ants’ (1977)
A shady land-developer takes prospective investors on a tour of her latest business opportunity, unaware that radioactive waste has leaked and caused the local ant population to grow in size. And now, all those giant ants are after just one thing…
And that thing is… sugar. I mean of course it is, ants love sugar, but I was stuck between appreciating the realistic motivation but also thinking that surely giant ants would be more ambitious than just taking over the nearest sugar refinery.
Either way, ‘Empire of the Ants’ wasn’t bad in terms of the ‘ant effects’ but the human cast were all a little too interchangeable and no-one really stood out, not even Joan Collins. Not a bad ‘creature feature’ but didn’t have quite enough to get to the next level.
A college girl falls in love with a young man who happens to be the last descendant of an inhuman race that inhabited the Earth when it was young. He wants to bring his people back to life; she is the potential sacrifice that can make it happen. Her college professor is perhaps the only person who can stop it from happening…
This was a bit more like it. ‘The Dunwich Horror’ is a real slow-burner but really made use of that to not only build up the tension but also to ‘off’ various supporting cast at just the right moments. Dean Stockwell was pretty villainous too and as someone who has only really seen him in ‘Quantum Leap’ (I think), that was a real eye-opener. I hadn’t planned on watching ‘The Dunwich Horror’, it just popped up, but I’m glad that I did. Now I really need to read the story (I know)…
A brother and sister make the new family home ready, for their parents return, and take delivery of a television. This is no ordinary television though… It is a portal through which the murderous undead can enter our world.
You know me by now. If a movie blurb includes the word ‘zombie’ then I’m all over it. I came to ‘The Video Dead’ on the promise of zombies; I stayed for the zombies that took time, after a kill, to appreciate how funny their kills were. Seriously, they just stood there and chuckled together. I also stayed for the zombie tea-party at the end (again, seriously…)
‘The Video Dead’ is as daft as anything then but somehow all the more engaging for it. I can’t see myself watching it again but I’m glad I gave it a go.
A sociologist is looking for proof that werewolves exist and when a werewolf runs away from her family, he is about to get all the proof he needs… and more.
I’ve never seen any of the ‘Howling’ movies and ‘Howling III’ was on Prime so I thought, ‘why not?’ :o) I thought it was kind of sweet actually, with a really cute baby werewolf part of a hidden werewolf town that really, just wants to be accepted by fearful humans. The only problem is, I don’t think ‘really sweet’ is what this movie was aiming for… The practical effects are suitably supernatural and bloody; the actual plot felt like it was trying to wrap up a trilogy rather than be a horror movie. Still, I’ve got a soft spot for a horror film that’s all sweet and cozy really :o)
The Dunwich Horror is on Tubi, so I guess I'll be watching that this afternoon. I "think" I've read the short story it is based on, but am not sure. That's probably for the best though, because when I start comparing movies and books, well, the movie almost never does well :-D
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