Saturday, October 8, 2011

Night 8 of "Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween"

It's Night 8 of "Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween". Tonight we have 2 new featured shops from our GIANT Giveaway. We also have the review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. But first off is our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge. Enjoy!

Tonight's Featured Items - Cute Monsters Silver Pendant and Charm Bracelet.

Cute Monsters Silver Pendant $12
Cute Monsters Charm Bracelet $45

These cute little aliens and monsters go great with tonight's movie. 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 Feature - Zombee Candle and Spooky Bones Company

Our first featured shop is Zombee Candle which is run by Kate out of Louisiana. Her shop is filled with lots of sweet sounding candles.


So where did the name Zombee Candle come from? "I actually had a dream that I was calling my candles "little zombies" which isn't all that unusual since I love zombies and the undead in general ... the "bee" element came later when I was building my brand. Luckily it all worked out!"


What inspires Kate's designs? "I have always had a super-sensitive nose, so I'm constantly inspired by different scents. Zombee Meadow is a great example - smells like fresh cut grass, which is one of the most memory-triggering scents for most people. One of my limited edition scents, Hallowed Ground smells like burning leaves, which reminds me of autumn and the cemetery I played in as a child. It never fails, someone always has a scent memory that matches up with one of my little Zombees!"


Why did you decide to start your shop? "I've always wanted to own my own business. I'd love to eventually have a spooky gift shop, but I didn't want to go the traditional route of borrowing an obscene amount of money from the bank and then spending 2 or 3 years trying to simultaneously pay on the loan and turn a small profit until things level out. So, I started small and it turns out that I love my Zombees maybe even more than my original idea of running an actual storefront!"

Why candles? "I love candles! But, the majority of candles are made with paraffin wax which is really toxic, so I thought I'd give something organic a try. Soy wax burns beautifully and holds fragrance so well! It is also really easy to clean up so I'm able to re-use containers and do special candles in antique glass pieces."


Since it's Halloween I had to ask the shops what their favorite horror film is. "This question is nearly impossible to answer. There are so many sub-categories! But, I can definitely make some suggestions. I love slasher films, my favorite being Halloween & Halloween II [which picks up right after the first one ends], the Scream trilogy is also amazing - slashers have a perfect balance of fear, sex and humor. My other favorite scary movies include The Thing, The Shining ["REDRUM!"], Rosemary's Baby ["this isn't a dream, this is really happening!" haha], Suspiria, The Exorcist ... then there are the family movies, I suggest Hocus Pocus as my number ONE family Halloween film, Practical Magic, Halloweentown series. And then the zombie films ... Night of the Living Dead wins, surely. Romero forever!! Dawn of the Dead ... I also highly recommend Shaun of the Dead for the die-hards out there. It's a movie made for zombie nerds!! For the record: 28 Days Later is amazing, but those are not zombies, sorry. I'll save that argument for another time ..."

A big thanks to Kate and Zombee Candle for joining in the giveaway. Take a moment to peruse her shop and see what tempting treats await.
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Our second shop tonight is Spooky Bones Company run by Amber from Richmond, VA. Her shop has lots of fun sparkly nail polish with creepy spooky names.


How did you come up with your name? "I had Halloween gel window clings that said Spooky and Bones."


What inspires your colors of polish? "Horror and Comedy."


Why did you decide to open your shop and make nail polish? "I wanted a color no else made. I opened my shop so other people could have a unique polish all to themselves."


Since it's Halloween I had to ask the shops what their favorite horror film is. Amber said "Shaun of the Dead."

A big thanks to Amber and Spooky Bones Company for joining in the giveaway. Make sure to stop by the shop and see what ghastly good products are hiding there.
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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 8 - Alien


Taglines - In space no one can hear you scream.
               Sometimes the scariest things come from
              within
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Directed by Ridley Scott and released on May 25, 1979 by Twentieth Century Fox (rated R). The crew of the Nostromos are awaken from hypersleep to check out a SOS signal from a nearby planet. Once they land they discover it was no SOS but a warning which has come too late! As they head back to Earth something has decided to hitch a ride with them and it doesn't like to play nice.
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This is one of the greats. It's a classic horror story but set in a Sci Fi setting. The atmosphere is dark and spooky, the suspense is good and the monster is still too cool. It may seem very slow paced by today's standards but if you like a well made movie the pace is just fine. And the little face huggers? Oh, you know they're still creepy little bug things! Eeek! Where did it go?
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Some trivia about the movie...
1. An early draft of the script had a male Ripley, making this one of at least three films where Sigourney Weaver played a character originally planned to be a man. The second is The TV Set and the third is Vantage Point.
2. Three aliens were made: a model; a suit for seven-footer Bolaji Badejo; and another suit for a trained stunt man.
3. Ridley Scott's 2003 director's cut largely came about when over 100 boxes of footage of his 1979 original were discovered in a London vault.
4. For the awakening from hypersleep segment, Veronica Cartwright and Sigourney Weaver had to wear white surgical tape over their nipples so as not to offend certain countries.
5. To get Jones the cat react fearfully to the descending Alien, a German Shepherd was placed in front of him with a screen between the two, so the cat wouldn't see it at first, and came over. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jones stop, and start hissing.
6. The character of Ash did not appear in Dan O'Bannon's original script.
7. The original title was "Star Beast".
8. The original name for the spaceship was Snark. This was later changed to Leviathan before they finally settled for Nostromo.
9. The dead facehugger that Ash autopsies was made using fresh shellfish, four oysters and a sheep kidney to recreate the internal organs.
10. Ridley Scott reportedly said that originally he wanted a much darker ending. He planned on having the alien bite off Ripley's head in the escape shuttle, sit in her chair, and then start speaking with her voice in a message to Earth. Apparently, 20th Century Fox wasn't too pleased with such a dark ending.

13 comments:

  1. oh, yeah, that would have been a *much* darker ending! great movie, especially glad that the cat made it in to the shuttle as well.

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  2. This movie was so INTENSE! When that alien....comes bursting out of that guys stomach....ACK!!!!!! Classic!

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  3. I don't know where this movie falls on Sigourney Weaver's filmography list, but it's the first movie that I remember her in. Really creepy, atmospheric movie... Loved it!

    Dixienites@ gmail.com

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  4. I love all the funny spin offs that came from this movie. I thought I saw a reunion picture of the cast in the latest Entertainment Weekly Magazine. Great pick!

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  5. lol I was a kid when I saw this movie in the dark theatre and when the alien popped out of the guy and everyone screamed, I shouted how cute!!! lol well the baby alien was cute:)

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  6. More great trivia facts about Alien. I don't think i ever watched this movie from beginning to end, although i do remember some parts like the alien coming out of the guy..yuck!

    cyclona66 at aol dot com

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  7. The perfect mix of horror and sci-fi...
    A favourite of mine

    DESPINA
    deb_oro@yahoo.gr

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  8. I know this is unbelievable, but I have not seen Any of the Alien films.

    acm05atjuno.com

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  9. I actually never managed to see this one until college, in a film class nonetheless. I love Ripley. The suspense mixed with horror came out really well.
    :)

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  10. I love Alien. All Alien movies. The story is amazing! 28 Days Later my favorite zombie movie.

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  11. Another all-time classic movie. I like it very much, it is amazing...but it's not scary

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  12. Another great classic -- and scary, too!

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  13. The first time I watched this movie was at a drive in and I went and bought it the day it came out and all the sequels were great too.

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