*****SPOOKY SPOILERS AHEAD!***** First Time’s Not Quite the Charm… Before I get into 2023’s “The Haunted Mansion,” I wanted to drop a few lines about the first live-action version of “The Haunted Mansion,” which debuted 20 years ago (feels like both yesterday and forever ago). 2003 is a time when formerly R-rated comedy superstar Eddie…
Tag: Halloween
Recurring Nightmare; CreepIECon Returns to the Inland Empire for 2023…
The Growing Horror… Last year, the city of Ontario, California hosted a horror-themed convention in February called “CreepIECon”, which was successful enough in its freshman year to take another stab at it in 2023. Having just returned from CreepIECon 2023 earlier today, it’s safe to say that by attendance alone, the convention has grown significantly…
“Halloween Ends” (2022) sees the franchise taking an overdue dirt nap…
*****SPOOKY SPOILERS!!***** Halloween Wanes. In 1978, writer/director/musician John Carpenter (“Assault on Precinct 13”) unleashed his micro-budget thriller “Halloween” into theaters, and the movie became a runaway hit. I still remember seeing another movie at a multiplex around that time, and hearing screams from the “Halloween” screening in the next auditorium. I would eventually see “Halloween”…
“Trick ‘r Treat” (2007) is an underrated, yet definitive Halloween horror flick…
******SPOOKY SPOILERS!!****** Tricked From Theaters. Written and directed by Michael Dougherty and produced by Bryan Singer (the team behind “X-Men 2”, “Superman Returns”), 2007’s low-budget horror anthology “Trick ‘r Treat” took time to find an audience; several years after plans for its theatrical release were unceremoniously scrapped in 2007. A hit at film festivals, the…
Halloween in February: ‘CreepIEcon 2022’ comes to SoCal’s Inland Empire…
“Welcome To My Nightmare…” This past weekend, during a sunny but windy Southern California February, my favorite holiday of Halloween briefly returned to the month of Valentine’s Day. Long delayed due to the COVID pandemic, CreepIEcon 2022 (the “i” and “e” emphasized for “Inland Empire”) finally reached the Ontario Convention Center in the San Bernardino…
“Halloween Kills” (2021) offers brutal tricks, but few treats…
******PUMPKIN SPICE SPOILERS!!****** After more than a year’s delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “Halloween Kills” is finally getting a release. Like the Godzilla franchise, Halloween’s continuity has been rebooted multiple times since the classic 1978 original. Halloweens 2, 4, 5 and 6 were (more or less) a straight line series of diminishing quality that…
Musings for Halloween: “The Changeling” (1980)…
*****SPOOKY SPOILERS AHEAD!***** Many years ago, I remember seeing a trailer for a then-new horror movie coming out which featured George C. Scott (“Patton” “A Christmas Carol”) living in an apparently haunted house. The one thing that made me nearly wet my seat was the sight of an antique wheelchair, shrouded in cobwebs and sans…