I have no clue what is going on in Pulse, but it’s awesome.
My wife and I (and our brand-new daughter, though she wasn’t yet born at the time) moved to a new neighborhood this year. For the first time in almost a decade, I think we’ll be living in a place that actually has kids going out to Trick or Treat the neighborhood. Some of our neighbors have gone all out–one guy has created an entire cemetery in his front yard, while another has rigged some sort of contraption to make a life-sized model of Death hang menacingly over his front door. The leaves have turned color and are quickly migrating to the ground, and the TV stations are running films from every 80’s horror series that they are able to edit into politically correct submission. I love this time of year, both because it’s fall, the weather is nice, and the foliage is beautiful, but also because Halloween is a holiday where we celebrate our enjoyment at scaring ourselves. Unlike most of the other holidays, Halloween in America is an exercise in honoring horror–an emotion otherwise thought to be negative or mind-warping–as a basic form of human entertainment. Despite all the gaudy plastic pumpkins and marketing blitzes that define the holiday for many, I think that at its core Halloween is an admission that scary stuff is something that everybody can enjoy.
I have a couple of recommendations for this year’s Halloween. First, you could mull over the announcement that Capcom is making a Resident Evil CG movie. If that’s not enough for you, you could go rent yourself some quality horror films–none of this sanitized-for-television garbage, but the real, genuine article. I’ve recommend Pulse (the origin of this neat shot on the left), Session 9, The Descent, and Don’t Look Now in the past, and I would like to reiterate my approval of these films. Or, you could check out this fascinating (if somewhat informal) book about Japanese horror films. I’m about half way through it myself and will be posting a full review when I’m done, but so far it’s been pretty good. Finally, you could play some Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, which I found mostly satisfactory until the shooting bits started, but I can still recommend it to fans of the genre (which, if you are reading this site, you clearly are).
Anyway, I have to go buy some candy and get myself a mask or something. I’m totally unprepared for all the kids that are going to be knocking at my door in a few short hours. Trick or treat!
Halloween was fine when I was younger, but the past few years I’ve really grown to hate it. It has come to represent something different where I live. I swear that last year I saw more adverts for “sexy halloween costumes” than I did anything else. All of my [former] acquaintances spent the night getting drunk at halloween parties. And to top it off, I sat at home with bags of candy to hand out, and like 2 kids showed up. This is great for those two kids of course, cause they hit the candy jackpot, but for me, it just drives home the harsh reality that halloween isn’t what it used to be.
But maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s something that will never die. Maybe all it takes is for me to watch some scary movie, and give a salute of appreciation to all things scary. Don’t Look Now sounds pretty rad, so I’ll watch that tonight, and perhaps even finish out Rule of Rose. Chris, I think you might’ve just saved halloween for me.
Chris, is that version of Pulse of the Japanese or American one?
To BDmonster,
yeah Halloween isn’t what it use to be.
It’s now the second most commericial holiday behind Christmas.
But even how we in North America celebrate it is a butchering of All Hallow’s Eve.
THE JAPANESE VERSION. I prefer to pretend that the American remake does not exist.
I envy you Americans. Halloween seems to get overlooked here in the UK. Most shops put the christmas decorations up at the end of September and its only a handful of places that get into the spooky spirit of things. Even the TV schedule is bereft of all things scary (there was about 2 or 3 horror films on last night out of several hundred channels).
I prefer to pretend the original Pulse(Kairo)doesn’t exist. I’ve never seen the English one, but the original Japanese version… well, let’s say I was severely unimpressed. I understand different things scare different people, but the person who wrote on that dvd box that it was the most terrifying movie they have seen probably hasn’t seen any other scary movie in their life. Or maybe they were scared that it was made?
Hi guys. Mi second time here. I think we have similar tastes about horror movies.
I feel in the need of showing you a new horror film from my country, Spain. Is a zombie movie shooted in the Blair Witch Project style, and inside a building. And I think it looks great. The American remake is already announced.
Tough i haven’t watched yet (and i’m not gonna be able to for a time, since now i’m in Korea) I’ve been told that it is great.
The trailer is in Spanish, but i don’t think it’s a big problem.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ib5ZSj6ST0U
To Chris,
I thought so but I wanted to make sure. 😉
Hey, I just wanted to add that I love the idea that we can celebrate horror (hell, im sure you could write a book on how horror affects people and how as the international barriers break down we realise there is less to fear but more horror in the world) but im glad to see session 9 gets a mention on your list. I really enjoyed it, both as a film and a horror film. its very good at creating a really creepy and interesting atmosphere. i say interesting because i have seen films that can be scary, (or perhaps more shocking) but there is very little of interest in them. for me session 9 does create both a horror and an interesting setting, which (this is without me expanding at all!) why i enjoyed it so much.