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Scary Movie, a review by addicted2dvd

Scary Movie
This hilarious, must-see comedy smash places Carmen Electra (TV's Baywatch), Marlon Wayans (Senseless), Jon Abrahams (Boiler Room, The Faculty) and some of today's hottest young stars in a wickedly funny send-up of today's most popular horror movies! A familiar-looking group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by more-than-vaguely recognizable masked killer! As the victims begin to pile on, none of your favorite scary movies escape the razor-sharp satire of this outrageously funny parody! With Shannon Elisabeth, Shawn Wayans and Cheri Oteri adding sidesplitting performances, there's nothing to fear in this scary movie...unless you're afraid of laughing too much!

My Thoughts:
I can't have a Comedy-Horror marathon and not watch Scary Movie! This movie mostly spoofs the movie Scream... but also spoofs some others such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense. It even throws in a little from non-horror movies such as The Matrix. I think this is a good movie for what it is. A movie to make fun of other movies. It has some decent jokes... of course some of them are rather juvenile and sick... but it is what it is and worth checking out if you like movie spoofs.


Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yurKTKQr6E

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Comedy-Horror on April 5th, 2009)

Suspiria, a review by Jon

Suspiria
5 out of 5



An American girl arrives late at a German dance academy in time to see a girl running away, who is murdered soon after. Other strange events follow and she finds out about the mysterious history of the school and that it used to be a front for a coven of witches before being destroyed in a fire.

Here's me, finally dipping my big toe into the murky, bloody waters of Italian horror. I've wanted to see Suspiria for a very long time as it is spoken of with great reverance.

It didn't disappoint, though it did take a little getting used to. It is at once faithfully developing and adhering to old techniques of genre film-making, while also pushing it to its very limits in ways even the independent spirit of 70s films would find impossible to match. As such, it is genuinely shocking, even today, with one scene in particular making a complete mockery of the entire Saw franchise. It's too easy to be snobbish though, so to put it in context, it was released the same year Spielberg invented the blockbuster in Jaws, three years after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and two before Alien. 

Horror is the most visual of the original genres, developed from German Expressionism where Gothic architecture and ominous shadows became the essential building blocks of any scary movie. The school is a perfect setting for a classic horror then, with everything from huge halls, creepy attics and secret rooms.

But what's changed over the years in general is that those core elements have softened; either audiences have become desensitised to the OTT visual style of old-school horror, or studios prefer something more generic and so soften the edges.

Dario Argento doesn't follow that thinking at all. He takes his typical Gothic mansion and enthusiastically drenches it colour. Every set is dazzlingly different to the last, in both decor and lighting. Even the narrative alludes to it, with a teacher conducting lessons in either the "red room" or the "yellow room". There is a blue room as well and Argento uses those primary colours along with windows and reflections to emphasise a hidden world just behind what we can see.

This is perhaps demonstrated best in a memorable scene when all the students are forced to abandon their rooms and have to sleep in makeshift beds all together in a hall that the teachers have hastily prepared. Sheets are hung from the ceiling to form a barrier inside the hall. When the lights are turned off, instead of the expected darkness, we get a deep dark red with shadows moving along the sheets.

Brilliantly effective, Argento never takes the obvious route in this film and defies convention whenever possible. This assault on convention and the senses is also in the soundtrack from Goblin. I'd forgotten about their wonderful, brief theme in Dawn of the Dead and this is similarly bonkers. It sounds like they threw everything into it! There's even a voice screaming "witch!" in the mix. At times, I found it a bit much, but then I wasn't expecting such a visceral experience overall and repeat viewings will let me appreciate it properly. When the girl is departing the airport at the very start, the music is only heard when the doors at the front open. Nice gag and underlines the idea she's stepping into a new world.

So it's all very pretty in a foreboding way, but these Italian films are known for their blood soaked murders. Suspiria opens with one of the best movie murders I've ever seen and has one or two more that are very powerful indeed. Not so much for their aesthetics, but just because they get under your skin and again challenge what you may expect to be the norm. Continuing the notion of hidden worlds, a lot of windows get smashed during these scenes. The first victim is suffocated against the glass before it finally breaks.



(From October Marathon: Horror! on October 26th, 2008)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The Defiant follows a distress signal of a woman whose ship was destroyed. Her escape pod made it to a planet but it can barely sustain life. The Defiant has six days to reach her before she dies. While they try to reach her the crew of the Defiant talks to her because she's alone out there and scared. Meanwhile Quark tries to pursuade Odo to celebrate his and Kira's first month anniversary in order to sell some illegal goods when Odo is distracted.

My Opinion: This was a well-told episode. I really liked the idea that everyone got the chance to talk about the things that were laying heavily on their mind. And I also really liked how Odo let Quark get away with his scheme because Quark has helped him with Kira.

Synopsis: Starfleet has decided to abandon their defensive strategy and strike back against the Dominion. Sisko develops a plan in which a combined fleet of Starfleet, the Klingons and the Romulans attack the Chin'toka system on cardassian soil. But Sisko also gets a warning from the Prophets that he shouldn't leave DS9 in this critical time. And right they were: Dukat is back and he has found a way to attack the wormhole beings directly.

My Opinion: They killed Jadzia! I find it often hard to see someone leaving a show. I can accept it when it's due to dramaturgical reasons, because it was necessary. But I hate it when it's due to financial issues. And while the battle scenes were great again I also hated the author's decision that it was an error on Sisko's side to be a Starfleet officer instead of the Emissary.

The Season - My Opinion: All in all this was a great season. The number of episodes I didn't care for is on an all-time low. Unfortunately it won't go on this way. The death of Jadzia marked a turning point for me and from now on it will go downhill. There are just too many developments in the seventh season I don't like.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on February 28th, 2009)