Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Night 12 of "The Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween"

Welcome to night 12 of "Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween". Tonight we have our next featured shop from our GIANT Giveaway. We also have the review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. First off lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.


Tonight's Featured Items - "Black Cat in Orange Retro Ring" and "Vintage Ouija Board Retro Ring"

Black Cat in Orange Retro Ring $12

Vintage Ouija Board Retro Ring $12

Purchase either of these items from Laughing Vixen Lounge during October and get 10% off. Use code OCTOBER10
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Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Shop Features - Junkmill and Washable Art
 
Tonight's first featured shop is Junkmill run by Chandra from Rockford, MI. Her shop is full of great graphic design sheets you can use for all of your crafting needs. This is the amazing designer who made all of the Zombie Pin Ups you'll find exclusively at Laughing Vixen Lounge. But don't worry, she has more of these beauties available in her shop.

Zombie Pinups Digital Collage Sheet

How did you come up with your shop name? "Junk (what we have) + mill (what we do) = Junkmill

When I’m mixing elements in Photoshop to create the collage images, I imagine a little clockwork-style mill grinding away in the back of my brain with gears and whistles and smokestacks, so when I stumbled across the term, it just stuck. I like that it hints at what the shop is about, yet it has a bit of mystery. It’s actually a mining term for a huge drill bit designed to tear through junk, concrete and metal."


The Raven Digital Collage Sheet

What inspires Chandra's designs? "I tend to follow my own interests and whims when designing collage sheets and, more recently, collecting junk embellishments for the shop. I always work from the premise that if I think an image or object is interesting, unique or inspiring, it’s likely others will too. I am consistently drawn to macabre imagery, but lately my designs have been a little more kitsch, like the zombie pin-ups, the horror-inspired dollheads and the rockabilly girls. As my significant other (aka “the guy who drives all the shop orders to the post office”) explains it when his friends ask, “It’s humorous and horrifying at the same time, not that flowery, girly stuff.”

Macabre Minis Digital Collage Sheet

Why did you choose to open your shop? "After hunting high and low for cool, creepy collage sheets and coming up empty-handed, I started collecting my own images and putting together sheets for myself and my collage artist friends. When I discovered Etsy, I thought I’d list a few of the sheets “just to see,” and Junkmill was born. It turns out that my friends and I weren’t the only ones looking for dark and moody collage images. I offer a range of subject material, but the gothic, spooky and creepy themes that started Junkmill continue to be the most popular."


Since it's Halloween I had to ask the shops what their favorite horror film is. "For sheer wide-eyed, up-all-night terror, nothing spooked me quite as like Jacob’s Ladder, though Session 9 came awfully close. But my hands-down favorite “horror” movie has to be Spider Baby. So kooky and creepy …"

A big thanks to Chandra and Junkmill for joining in the giveaway. Make sure to stop by the shop and see what creepy goodies you can find.
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Up next is Washable Art run by Catherine who lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Her shop is filled with such cute and unique soap with lots of fun Halloween designs.


Bubbling Cauldron Soap

How did you decide on your shop name? "Actually, my name is changing! Washable Art is becoming Clean Slate Bath & Body. It is significant to me in many ways, and very meaningful. It came to me at the strangest moment, and it's absolutely right."


Bubbles In Black Soap

What inspires your designs? "I am inspired by silly, beautiful, intelligent people. I am inspired by color, nature, word play and the subtle complexity of language. I am inspired by children, ridiculous coincidences, and all of the senses. Honestly, I can think of very few things that haven't sparked ideas in me."  
 

Waiter, There's A Brain In My Soap

Why did you chose to start your shop? "I am a mad scientist: I grind potions with mortar and pestle, experiment with ratios and colloids. I am a mad artist: I combine colors and textures, shapes and scents. To my delight, others have responded to my madness. My shop is the happy result!"  
 


 
Since it's Halloween I had to ask the shops what their favorite horror film is. "You know what? The Blair Witch Project still scares the crap out of me. It's not the witchy part, but rather the eventual hopelessness of the 3 characters involved. Their reactions to getting lost, staying lost, being scared, and losing hope. Human frailty and loss of control is what's REALLY scary! I also recently saw a low-rated movie called "Frozen", about 3 people getting stuck in a chair lift... I was surprised at how horribly scary I found it. Probably because there was so much focus on the psychology of the people involved."
 
A big thanks to Catherine and Washable Art for joining in the giveaway. Make sure to stop by the shop and find yourself a fun little treat.
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Now for tonight's movie. Make sure to leave a comment below. Anyone who leaves a comment, with their opinion of the movie, for each of the 31 movies will get an extra 10 entries in our GIANT Giveaway.

Night 12 - Carrie




Tagline - A chilling blend of AMERICAN GRAFFITI
              and PSYCHO.
              If You've Got A Taste For Terror... Take
              Carrie To The Prom.
              If only they knew she had the power.
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Directed by Brian De Palma and released on November 3, 1976 by United Artists (rated R). Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a shy teen who has no friends. The other girls play horrible jokes on her and tease her to no end. Sue (Amy Irving) feels sorry for for Carrie and convinces her boyfriend Tommy (William Katt) to take Carrie to the prom. Carrie is happy and finally feels like she is part of the crowd. Unfortunately not everyone is happy to have her there and a cruel joke begins a night of terror!
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This movie is just creepy. Carrie's house with all the creepy religious statues that look not quite right. Oh yeah, and that mother! No wonder Carrie had issues. Plus a young John Travolta, Sissy Spacek and Amy Irving. It's a good cast and it's based on a good Stephen King book. Oh, don't forget the pig's blood. Eeeew! The ending really is just classic movie imagery.
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Some trivia about the movie...
1. Sissy Spacek wasn't considered for the role of Carrie until her husband, art director Jack Fisk, convinced director Brian De Palma to allow her to audition. Until that, De Palma was wedded to the idea of Amy Irving playing Carrie; when Spacek got the part instead, De Palma gave Irving the smaller role of Sue.
2. Betty Buckley, who plays the gym teacher in the film, went on to star as Carrie's mother in the ill-fated Pitchford/Gore musical version of Carrie. The song "When There's No One" from the show is included on Buckley's Sterling records release "Children Will Listen". No official cast album exists, although several unofficial recordings have been made.
3. The dizzying camera shot during the prom scene was achieved by placing William Katt and Sissy Spacek on a platform that was spinning in one direction, while the camera was being dollied in the opposite direction.
4. The name of the high school is Bates High, a reference to Norman Bates from Psycho. In addition, the four note violin theme from Psycho is used over and over in the film.
5. This was the first Stephen King novel adapted into a movie.
6. John Travolta drives a 1967 Chevelle SS 396 hardtop in this film, and in Pulp Fiction, he drove a 1964 Chevelle Malibu convertible.
7. Nancy Allen claims that she never realized that her character was going to be so evil until she saw the finished film, she thought that she and John Travolta were playing such self-centered, bickering morons that they were there for comic relief. Piper Laurie also thought that the character of Margaret White was so over the top that the film had to be a comedy.
8. In Carrie's house, the statue of a religious figure shot with arrows represents St. Sebastian. It is not a crucifix and does not represent Jesus Christ.
9. Amy Irving's feature film debut.
10. Amy Irving admits that she originally hated the script when she first received it. After seeing the finished film, she thought it was simply 'magic' and loved it.
11. The ring that Amy Irving wears throughout the movie was a gift to her from Stephen King the author of the book the film is based on.
12. Screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen went on to collaborate with composer Michael Gore and lyricist Dean Pitchford and create "Carrie: The Musical", which debuted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Terry Hands and choreographed by Debbie Allen in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom in 1988. Later that same year, the production was transferred to Broadway, where Betty Buckley replaced Barbara Cook as Margaret White. The Broadway run only lasted five performances, and it is considered by many to be the most spectacular flop in Broadway history. However, Linzi Hateley, who played the title role in her Broadway debut, won a Theatre World Award for her performance.
13. According to the audio commentary on the DVD, Carrie is a composite of two girls Stephen King knew, though only one of them was a classmate of his. Prior to the publication of Carrie, his first published novel, King had been an English teacher. The second girl who inspired Carrie was one of his students.

11 comments:

  1. I didn't see Carrie until a few years ago. I'm a huge Stephen King fan and was freaked out by the movie but enjoyed it.

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  2. having to agree with piper laurie...i thought 'carrie' was so over the top that it was meant as a comedy (kind of like a precursor to 'scary movie'). when the mean kids get freaked on, my first thought was 'why did she wait so long?'.

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  3. It's been ages since I watched this one...poor Carrie. Enjoyed the trivia bits!

    Dixienites@ gmail.com

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  4. I just watched this movie again last night. LOVE IT!! Went garage saleing today and found the paperback book for 50 cents:)
    earthdancedaph@yahoo.com

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  5. OMG...the pig blood scene still gives me nightmares!!!

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  6. Great film!!
    I totally root for her!!
    :D

    DESPINA
    deb_oro@yahoo.gr

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  7. I've never actually watched Carrie. I read the book and it horrified me how Carrie was abused at home and school.

    acm05atjuno.com

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  8. I love Carrie! The build up to the end is great. Definitely a PROM NIGHT FROM HELL!!

    cyclona66 at aol dot com

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  9. I only read the book. I heard the movie's as good as the story...

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  10. Once again I prefer the book, but I liked to see Piper Laurie again in that movie.

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  11. I thought this was gonna be a movie about the loner becoming miss popular or getting the guy but not even close. Good movie though.

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