Sunday, October 25, 2009

Night 25 of "The 31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest"

I've joined in the fun over at Domestic Witch's October Blog Party. You can find a list of participating blogs that are having fun celebrating the season of Halloween. When you're done here take a broom ride over to her site and you'll see the list of blogs on the right side bar.
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Here at The Lounge we will have a "31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest". Check back each day to see which movie is featured and some days you may get more than one. They will be a random selection of my favorites. You can see all past selections on the sidebar.
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Make sure to leave a comment for each movie as one lucky person will win their choice of pendant from Laughing Vixen Lounge at the end of the film fest. Please see rules at end of post.
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Night 25...."May"
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Directed by Lucky McKee (The Woods and Red) and released on June 6, 2003 by Lions Gate Films. May (Angela Bettis) has always been "different" and has trouble finding friends. Her best friend is Suzy a creepy old doll kept inside a glass box. May tries so hard to connect with the people around her like Adam (Jeremy Sisto) the boy she likes and Polly (Anna Faris) the girl she works with. But no one seems to understand May and no one sticks around for long. As May's mother once told her "If you can't find a friend make one".
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This is a wonderful movie. It's so much more than a horror film. Angela Bettis is so good in her role as May that you can't help feeling for this character. We can all see a little bit of ourselves in her. The wanting to be accepted, trying to get the attention of a certain boy, wanting someone to like you for who you are and all the other insecure feelings we all have. May just happens to be a little closer to the edge of sanity then most. It's both sad and scary to watch her slide into madness.
The look of the film and the music work well. There is some blood but it's not over the top. It's just used effectively. The scene with the blind children, Suzy and May it just hard for me to watch but wonderfully done. The best scene here will come at the very end of the last scene. The first time I saw it I was creeped out. It is so unexpected and so wrong on so many levels!!! It's subtle but very effective. You should really go check this one out.
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Some trivia about the movie...
1. Director Cameo: [Lucky McKee] The man with his girlfriend in the elevator, both times.
2. Originally the film opened with a lengthy introduction to May as a child. But when the film appeared to be taking too long to get to its point, most of those scenes were cut. The opening with the adult May, specifically the first scene with her and her doll, were shot quickly and only to make the point that May was lonely as quickly as possible.
3. The scene where Blank and May meet was a re-shoot. In the original scene, May was not cold and vague, but angry, and insulted people as they walked by on the street. The scene ended with the two of them in the park. That scene is still in the film but entirely replaced and reedited. It is now the scene where Adam and May meet and have there final talk in the park. The scene is told only through close ups, with both May and Adam glancing off camera. They were originally looking at Blank who was sitting beside her. But he was edited out of the scene completely.
4. There is a movie called "Roman" which is directed by Angela Bettis and stars Lucky McKee. A reversal of roles.
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Rules for pendant giveaway...
(1) comment about a movie per movie.
(1) extra entry by following this Blog and (1) extra for following on Twitter (You can only take the blog and twitter entries once for the whole contest).
(1) extra entry for Tweeting about this. Please use this message -Check out the "31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest" to win your choice of pendant from @LaughingVixen http://bit.ly/1w86ih -- 3 Tweets a day max and no more than 1 an hour.
(1) extra entry for guessing the next film. I will tweet hints on Twitter about the next days movie and you can post your guess as a comment. Doesn't have to be right just your best guess.
Make sure to post each entry as an individual comment on any of the movies comment pages. You can comment on past movies. Make sure you can be contacted from your post.

22 comments:

  1. Is tomorrow's Shaun of the Dead?

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  2. "The first time I saw it I was creeped out. It is so unexpected and so wrong on so many levels!!!"

    Dolls creep me out, but sounds interesting. Will have to check it out.

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  3. And following you on Twitter. ( @SoloKat )

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  4. I think "Shaun of the Dead" is next! onlyjoy1959@yahoo.com

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  5. I follow your blog. onlyjoy1959@yahoo.com

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  6. I follow you on twitter too! @madly59

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  7. Shaun of the Dead! OMG! One of my fave Zombie (comedy) movies! Loved it and Fido. Loved it when creepy movies blend humor in seamlessly!

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  8. Never even heard of this one..not sure I want to check it out-dolls*shudder*.

    I bet shaun of the dead for tomorrow too. One of the great ones. Me and the hubby quote it all the time!

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  9. oh my goodness..saw this on the IFC channel and was creeped out when she poked her eyes out

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  10. shaun of the dead!

    http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/5150910723

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  11. oops! shaun of the dead

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  12. dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com


    http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/5152746433

    daily tweet 1

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  13. daily tweet 2

    http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/5160609598

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  14. Interesting premise, but one of my least favorite films to date.

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  15. Tomorrow's movie is definitely "Shaun of the Dead!" An instant classic!

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  16. http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/5163512240

    daily tweet 3

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  17. I've never even heard of this movie...but it sounds good.

    )O(
    boo

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  18. I remember a friend watched this movie (that's why I was right with my guess), and loved it, but I haven't watched it yet. A good one for a rainy night...

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