Poltergeist (1982 – Rated PG in the US for Creepy ghosts, pissed of dead indians and a scary little person)

Summary (from IMDB):

A young family are visited by ghosts in their home. At first the ghosts appear friendly, moving objects around the house to the amusement of everyone, then they turn nasty and start to terrorise the family before they “kidnap” the youngest daughter.

RB Wood’s Rating (Out of 5): 4 and a half Carol Anne’s

This is the movie that spear-headed the PG-13 rating, and it’s not hard to see why.  The Creep/horror factor is high, althought the lack of bare boobies and f-bombs kept this out of the “R” territory. This is very different than Spielberg’s other entry for 1982 (a little flick called E. T.).  Although the same neighbor hood and Golden Retriever is used for both flick, they couldn’t be more different. Scary shit begins to happen in the Freeling home when young Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) begins to sleepwalk and have in depth conversations with the television.  Craig T. Nelson plays daddy Freeling who is a real estate agent for the housing development the family has moved into.  Once Carol Anne announces that “They’re here!” the oddities begin to increase, culminating in Carol Anne’s kidnapping into the ‘ghost dimension.’

Still a classic, the performances (even by the children) are quite good–something Spielberg is quite good at.  Both Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams (who plays Diane Freeling) play the ‘protect the children at all costs’ card very well. The score sets the tone brilliantly, and the ‘corporate greed’ underlying theme is there, but not over done.  I take a half star off due to the late Zelda Rubinstein’s performance as Tangina.  She’s done so many other great bit roles, her performance here is just not up to her usual standard.

Tomorrow: Man is The Warmest Place to Hide.

Peace

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948 Rated PG for mild situational horror and Costello, because he’s a “Baaaad Boooooy”)

Summary (from IMDB):

The world of freight handlers Wilbur Grey and Chick Young is turned upside down when the remains of Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula arrive from Europe to be used in a house of horrors. Dracula awakens and escapes with the weakened monster, who he plans to re-energize with a new brain. Larry Talbot (the Wolfman) arrives from London in an attempt to thwart Dracula. Dracula’s reluctant aide is the beautiful Dr. Sandra Mornay. Her reluctance is dispatched by Dracula’s bite. Dracula and Sandra abduct Wilbur for his brain and recharge the monster in preparation for the operation. Chick and Talbot attempt to find and free Wilbur, but when the full moon rises all hell breaks loose with the Wolfman, Dracula, and Frankenstein all running rampant.

RB Wood’s Rating (out of 5): 4 “Hey Abb-ott’s!”

I’m sure You are wondering why the hell this is on my list.  Especially since there are classics from the Universal Horror Collection such as:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Dracula (1931 althought the Spanish shot-by-shot copy of the same year is MUCH better), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932)…and dozens of others.

So WHY Abbott and Costello?  In my opinion this is the BEST of the lot when it comes to bringing all the major monsters together.  Two hapless frieght handlers, Wilber (Costello) and Chick (Abbott) discover a few things shipped from Europe refuse to stay in thier containers.  The great Lon Chaney Jr. Plays Talbot–The Wolf Man.  Bela Lugosi is in for his second (and last) run as Dracula.  And even Vincent Price has a cameo as The Invisable man.

More than star power of the 30’s and 40’s, this is a witty script–significantly enhanced with Bud Abbott’s brilliant straighman and Lou Costello’s classic vaudville comedy.  There is some brilliant lines in this: “Oh pal. That’s all right; I’m sort of a wolf myself.” (Costello chatting with Talbot who reveals his wolfish secret) or Chick “You’re making enough noise to wake up the dead!” Wilbur – “I don’t have to wake him up. He’s up.”

It works, because EVERYONE plays it straight, except for Costello.  And I laugh everytime.  If you want to see a few of the best monsters from the middle of the last century, as well as one of the best comedy duos in action, pick this up.

Tomorrow: They’re Here!

Peace

The Grudge (2004 – Rated PG-13 in the US for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensuality and some fucked up anger management issues)

Summary (from IMDB):

Karen Davis is an American Nurse moves to Tokyo and encounter a supernatural spirit who is vengeful and often possesses its victims. A series of horrifying and mysterious deaths start to occur, with the spirit passing its curse onto each victim. Karen must now find away to break this spell, before she becomes its next victim.

RB Wood’s Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Creepy Kids

Bill Pulman as Peter lasts only for the first few minutes of The Grudge, reminding strongly of the old Police Squad! TV Series where the guest stars died in the teaser each week. Set in Japan, the Grude is a curse formed from powerful rage that has manifested itself for years in the house where the murder/suicide of a couple occured while their young son watched.

This remake (The Japanese version– Ju-on– is much better, BTW) certainly has its scary moments and I won’t deny I jumped a few times despite seeing the setup coming.  The story is simple, but the cultural differences between Japan and America are so great that the sinister nature of a watching spirit is significantly diluted in the US.  It’s a great home rental/Netfix streamer for this Halloween and you’ll enjoy it–just don’t expect a masterpiece.

Oh, and Karen is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar…and I’ll pretty much watch her paint her nails all day and be happy.

Tomorrow: “Dummy nothin’. It was smart enough to scare me!”

Peace

Wait Until Dark (1967 – NR in the US, but the suspense is fantastic and Audrey Hepburn makes me tingle, but that might be TMI)

Summary (from IMDB):

Susy’s husband is asked to hold a doll for a woman as they get off an airplane. She disappears. Mike and Carlino are small time hoods who find the woman’s body in Susie’s apartment, placed there by her partner, Harry Rote. Susie’s blindness is the key to them searching the apartment for the doll that contains smuggled drugs. Mike pretends to be an old friend of Susie’s husband while her husband is away and together the crooks invent a story of a police investigation of her husband that only the discovery of the now missing doll can save him from. Rote is a killer, and his stalking of Susie becomes more and more obvious as the story unfolds, leaving us with the question, how does a blind woman defend herself?

RB Wood’s Rating (Out of 5) 4 stunning brunettes

A bit of a departure tonight.  Away from the normal horror genre, this is pure thriller and pure suspense.  Susy (played by Hepburn) is recently blind young woman living in her basement apartment with her husband Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). When Sam returns with a doll packed with Herion (unbeknown to the young couple), the unfriendlies show up.

Audrey Hepburn is a not-so-secret crush of mine, and she is brilliant as Susy.  But Alan Arkin is be far the show stealer as the morally bankrupt Character of Roat.  He his calculating and ruthless.  And is absolutely perfect.  I’ve included this gem of a film here because it will terrorize you even more than many of the flicks I’ll be reviewing this month. Based on the play by the late Frederick Knott (who also penned Dial ‘M’ for Murder), the script will keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll. A perfect thriller for the season!

Tomorrow: “Three years ago, three of my colleagues were investigating what happened in that house. Two died mysteriously. The third was never found.”

Peace

Leprechaun (1993 – Rated R in the US for horror, violence and a foul-mouthed Professor Flitwick)

Summary (from IMDB):

When Dan O’Grady returns to the U.S. after stealing some Irish leprechaun’s pot of gold, he thinks he can settle down and enjoy his newfound wealth. He thought wrong. The leprechaun followed him and O’Grady barely gets away with his life, having locked the little monster in his basement. Ten years later, J.D. and his spoiled daughter Tory move in. By accident, the leprechaun is released and almost immediately the annoying creature starts to look for his gold, not displaying any respect for human life.

RBWood’s Rating (Out of Five): 1 annoying “Willow”

Look, I had to review this, okay?  My wife has a connection Mark Jones who directed and wrote this travest…awesome piece…of cinematic…glory…oh, shit.  It’s better than the sequels.

The novalty factor comes into play as this was Jennifer Aniston’s first movie role (pre nose job).  Prior to this, she had been in the classic Ferris Bueller TV series.  Remember that?  Me either.

It works as a B-movie slasher (the genre was really dead by the early ninties) and does have a few laugh out loud moments.  Warwick Davis does the best he can with the material as the The Irish gold digger, but it’s more along the lines of some of the SyFy horror tele-movies such as Ice Spiders or the Debbie Gibson blockbuster Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. If you actually decide to watch this, then go in with the bar set very low.

Tomorrow: …and then the knife whistling past her ear…

Peace

The Exorcist (1973 – Rated R for strong language, disturbing images and an ass-load of pea soup)

Summary (from IMDB):

A visiting actress in Washington, D.C., notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother’s terminal sickness. And, book-ending the story, a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.

RBWood’s Rating (Out of Five): 5 cans of pea soup

Billy Graham once claimed that Satan lived in the celliod of this classic horror flick.  If yesterday’s entry scared the crap out of me as a teenager, this movie scares the crap out of me at the ripe old age of 47.  And I love it.

Brilliantly paced, marvelously acted (from Max von Sydow’s hopeful Father Merrin and Ellen Burstyn’s traumatized mother to Linda Blair’s Regan) and with the attention to detail that only William Friedkin could bring (he directed The French Connection just before this movie–another favorite), The Exorcist is the demonic possession film that set the stage for all that follow. 

I cannot recommend this film highly enough for those of you who enjoy horror.  Although I do recommend you keep the lights on.

Tomorrow: I want me gold!

Peace

An American Werewolf in London (1981 – Rated R in the US for gore, violence, language, a porno scene, shots of David Naughton’s junk and Jenny Agutter’s boobies during the sex scene.  Think about THAT next time you see her in The Avengers.)

Summary (from IMDB):

Two American students are on a walking tour of Britain and are attacked by a Werewolf. One is killed, the other is mauled. The Werewolf is killed but reverts to its human form, and the local townspeople are unwilling to acknowledge its existence. The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on four feet at first but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he find a way to die to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural deaths.

RBWood’s Rating (Out of Five): 4 pints of Lager

Look, I’ll be honest with you.  The effects are a little dated, but I saw this movie when it first came out and it scared the living hell out of me…perfect for a repeat viewing for the month of horror flicks.  I had forgotten so many detail…Elmer Bernstein’s score, for example, was perfect to set the tone.  The dialog created by John Landis along with his direction is sharp, witty ans is interspersed with humor creating a tight package.  Quite frankly, despite the effects, the makeup work and the overall story still work, and work well.

The only distraction was me remembering my mom saying “I can never watch another Dr. Pepper ad again now that I’ve seen his ‘thingy.'” (David Naughton, who played David Kessler, was in popular Dr. pepper ads at the time he’d filmed this).

Griffin Dunne as David Kessler’s friend Jack was fantastic as the undead comic relief, and he, along with David’s other victims have a memorable scene trying to convince the newly cursed werewolf to kill himself in the middle of a porn theater.

The relationship between David and Alex (Agutter) is short and of course destined to fail, but is handled well and leads to the climactic fight between British cops and the monster. 

In my opinion, well worth a revist if you’ve seen it previously.  If you haven’t, give it a watch.  There is no sparkly werewolves in this flick.

Tomorrow: You’ll have a hankerin’ for pea soup.

Peace

I know it’s been a while, folks…but I’m back!

The Word Count has been a bit of a bust lately. I thoroughly enjoy putting the show together, but participation is at an all-time low. While I decide what to do about that, continue work on The Arcana Chronicles: The Young Practitioner (and other authorly-type stuff I can’t chat about as of yet), I thought I’d update the blog with a bit of a new feature.

Halloween is my absolute favorite time of the year, and every spooky season I celebrate with the traditional “31 Days of Horror.”

This year I thought I’d post reviews for what I’m watching and open up comments for your suggestions (NOTE: No SyFy original movies PLEASE. Nothing will ever top Mega Shark vs. Gatoroid, thank you very much)

First up for October 1^st is the dark comedy, Zombieland (2009 – Rated ‘R’ in the US for language, violence and some zombie chick running around with pasties on her boobs).

From IMDB:

A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, and a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the Last Twinkie and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.

RBWood’s rating (Out of Five): 3.5 Twinkies

 I’ll admit it. Shaun of the Dead ruined Zombie comedy flicks for me. Probably review that one later in the month, but this is about (*Spoiler*) Bill Murray, so I’ll move on.

“Wait, R. B. I thought this movie starred Woody Harrelson as the gun-toting, twinkie-searching lunatic and that guy who played Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network?”

And I’d say “That was Jesse Eisenberg, and how dare you not mention Emma Stone? Don’t interrupt me while I’m typing.”

Although the cast pulls off the horror/comedy genre really well, Bill Murray stole the show for me. Our zombie-fleeing heroes break into Bill Murray’s home as a refuge, only to find the actor (playing himself) also in hiding. A few bong hits later, and they are all playing Ghostbusters using props Murray stole from the original set.

Corny? absolutely. Spot on? Oh, you bet.

The zombies aren’t the slow moving undead creatures of the past. These brain-eating machines can move, and the horror of the scenario the world is in is nicely offset by the humor and the quirkiness of the characters. From each of the main characters named after a city (Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita, Little Rock) to the never-ending twinkie quest, this flick is a definite must-see.

Tomorrow: “Don’t Ever leave the path…”

Peace

***SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED!***

UPDATE: The Hell that is my day job now goes to YOUR BENEFIT!  The NEW Deadline is 7 September 2012!

The Word Count Podcast Episode 26 is now open for submissions!

It’s been over two months since the last prompt for The Word Count Podcast.

With ReaderCON and this year’s blog hop, life has been very busy.

But the ‘cast break is OVER!  Time for a new show.  And as I’m itching to get recording and receiving stories from fellow writers, I’m bypassing the normal voting process and selecting a theme at random from the magical mystery repository of themes I have…

Okay.  I surfed the internet until something caught my eye.  And after I finished looking at pictures of the US women’s Volleyball team, I found a theme I loved:

“A man who sees ghosts checks himself into a mental institute, not realizing that the facility has been closed for almost thirty years.”

Submission guidelines below.  I’m looking forward to this one!

Submission Guidelines (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)

PROMPT: “A man who sees ghosts checks himself into a mental institute, not realizing that the facility has been closed for almost thirty years.”

GENRE: Any.

DEADLINE: I must receive your submission by MIDNIGHT (Eastern Time) Friday 24th August 2012 Now SEPTEMBER 7th!

THE DETAILS: The work must be an original of yours. It could be a poem, short story, song—anything really as long as you write something based on the stated theme (“A man who sees ghosts checks himself into a mental institute, not realizing that the facility has been closed for almost thirty years.”) Do NOT exceed ten minutes. As this is a podcast, I need to receive a file of YOU, a friend or multiple friends reading (singing or otherwise performing) your work. MP3 FORMAT ONLY, and please attach your MP3 file to an e-mail. The e-mail should also contain the following:

Your pen name

Your latest bio

Links to your websites

Your Twitter name (if you have one)

A photo I can use for the show notes

Permission to use your recording in the podcast

At the end of the recording, please add the following: “This is <YOUR NAME> author of <YOUR WORK(s)> and you’re listening to The Word Count Podcast”

Send your file to me@rbwood.com by Friday the 24th of August 7th of September. You can also e-mail me with questions before hand. I do reserve the right NOT to post your submission, but will communicate that to you should it be the case. I add the ‘Explicit’ tag to the ‘cast, so if your story uses adult themes or language that’s ok—but it should be necessary for the story.

Peace

What a wonderful six weeks it has been!

This year’s blog hop – “From the Front Lines: Writer’s of the 21^st Century” had everything you could want.  Wit, wisdom, sarcasm and cussing.  Great articles by great writers and each of the names below are hyperlinked to their blog post entries.  Go back and reread them, it’s worth your time.

This weekend, I’ll be posting the next theme for THE WORD COUNT PODCAST, so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, I’d also follow these fine folks on twitter and get to know them.  A few of them will be famous someday.

Guys and gals, writers all: THANK YOU for being a part of the blog hop!

Diane Nelson 

D. Savannah George

Mercedes Yardley 

Monica Marier (Part ONE and Part TWO)

Tim Queeney 

Eden Baylee 

Heikki Hietala 

Terry Persun

Maria Kuroshchepova

Nicole Persun 

Steve Umstead 

Katherine Sears 

Leah Petersen

 Bill Kirton

Matthew Munson

Mike McNeff 

Zack Umstead 

Nicole Persun 

Steve Umstead 

Katherine Sears 

Leah Petersen

There are different types of conventions a writer can go to, but no matter where you are in your career, you should be attending conventions (cons) when you can.

Not for the parties, nor for the large quantities of top shelf booze although both are kick-ass.

Pictured: Kick-ass booze and party result

You should attend cons because you’ll be surrounded by experts in the field who’ve done what you’re dreaming about. 

Namely writing.

For aspiring authors, there are conventions, typically run by a writer’s association of some sort, that are designed to help writers learn to write a book that will sell, sell a book they have written, and let them rub elbows with, and even pitch their projects to agents. This is great for writers that are trying to break into the industry. If that’s you, find a good one near you and go there. It’s a great learning opportunity and a chance to network and meet the people who will be your support system and a leg up in pursuing your writing career. Established authors can benefit from these cons too, and are often found on panels that help the audience learn the things they need to know.

When you’re an established author, there are still cons for you. There’s a huge variety, whether it’s a genre-specific writer’s con, from RWA (Romance Writers of America,) to World Fantasy, or industry focused cons like Book Expo America, there’s a con that puts you in the thick of writers and readers in your specific genre or the industry as a whole. These are incredible networking opportunities, and no matter where you are in your career, you’ll learn something too. Plus, they’re fun.

There are also genre cons that have great resources for writers, but have a much broader attendance base. These are cons for the fans as well as the writers and producers that bring the entertainment to them. Dragon con is one of the biggest in the scifi/fantasy genre, Comic Con as well. (Can you tell I’m a scifi/fantasy author?)

Pictured: Entertainment

The drawback of cons is the cost, which can be a huge issue for the aspiring or even newer midlist author. So start small. Writer-specific cons are usually less expensive and there will be one near you. (Relatively, for some of us.) The bigger cons and the fan cons are once a year events, they’re not cheap, and for most of us will involve the cost of travel as well as registration, meals, etc. Some of them, like WorldCon, are in a different place every year and, as the name implies, may be held anywhere in the world. You may not make it to these without some serious saving or until you’re already published and have some royalties coming in.

The important thing to remember is that these cons are an investment in your writing career. Don’t let the costs scare you off. If there’s any chance you can make one, then pick one in your price range that’s most appropriate for you. Read up on them online and ask other writers on Twitter or the like about cons you might be interested in. Some are family-friendly and can be fun for the non-writers as well. Some are writer-specific and bringing alone the spouse and kids will be a waste of money.

Personally, I’m writing this in the airport as I wait for a flight to take me to ReaderCON, a con for the scifi & fantasy genres. Not only is it fun and informative, I’ll have a chance to strengthen relationships I made at last year’s ReaderCON, and Ad Astra con I attended earlier this year in Toronto.

Can you become an author without attending cons? Sure. Can you maintain a career as an author without attending cons? Of course. But cons are a great way to make sure you’re making the connections and capitalizing on the opportunity to do better, to be more. And, for those who aren’t as far along as you, they’re a great opportunity to give back, and that’s one of the best parts of being a writer.

And the drinks are to die for.

Leah Petersen lives in North Carolina. She does the day-job, wife, and mother thing, much like everyone else.  

She prides herself on being able to hold a book with her feet so she can knit while reading. She’s still working on knitting while writing.

Her first novel, Fighting Gravity, is available now from Dragon Moon Press.

UPDATE:

ReaderCON Issued a public statement on 5 August, which you can read here:

Public Statement by the Readercon Convention Committee

But criteria below has been met and I’m seriously thinking about making an inquiry to join one of the committees outlined in the statement to help move the con back to a safe place to gather.

#  #  #  #

I need to take a moment away from the ongoing blog hop to address something that’s been really bothering me for a few days.

For years you have all read about my love for the ReaderCON conferences I’ve attended.  The people I have met, the friendships that have been forged and the unbelievable amount of knowledge I gained over each three-day period has been worth my time and my money.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as you well know.  Unfortunately, some have not.

I’m speaking of the sexual harassment incident this year I only found out about a couple of days ago.

ReaderCON policy states that:

Readercon has always had a zero-tolerance harassment policy.

Harassment of any kind — including physical assault, battery, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or unwelcome physical attentions — will not be tolerated at Readercon and will result in permanent suspension of membership.

As always, Readercon reserves the right to strip membership at its discretion.

See that “Permanent Suspension” phrasing?  Yeah, that’ll be important in a sec.

The details of the incident are all over the internet and I’ve included a fairly comprehensive list linked below.  But apparently the offender was only banned for two years, which is far less than “permanent.”

I have friends who have been harassed.  I’ve personally pulled a “Sonny Corleone” on a Jack Wagon who tried to force a woman I was dating at the time into a car (it involved a garbage can lid and that’s all you need to know).

And to give a two-year ban to someone, just because he’s a “popular” fan and an organizer of cons himself is in violation of policy and deplorable to boot.

Are the facts of this case different than what I’ve read?  I don’t know…I didn’t witness what happened first hand.  But I know personally people who did or know the victim in this case.

When a policy is posted, then waived or bent in favor of someone just because of who he/she is, well that’s an epic fail.

I’m awaiting a proper public response from the folks who run the con.  But let me say this.  Under no circumstances should that behavior EVER be tolerated.

What I want to see is an apology and a permanent ban of the “creep.”  To start. 

Then I’ll see if ReaderCON 24 is in my future.

Read the many other blogs about this incident HERE

Peace