Laughing Vixen Lounge: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Night 31 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 31 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. This is your last day to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the last movie review off our Halloween Movie List. If you have been following along make sure to finish commenting on all the movie post by tonight. More info below on how to get your extra 25 entries. But first here is our last featured item from Laughing Vixen Lounge. Today is the last day to use the 10% code in the shop.

Frankenstein Deluxe Charm Bracelet $32

Bride Of The Monster Necklace - Style A $22

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

This is also the last day to enter the Hopin' Halloween Giveaway and tomorrow, November 1st, is the last day to enter the Wicked After Dark Giveaway. Both have the chance to win your choice of Compact Mirror and Silver Pendant from the shop.

Happy Halloween From

Laughing Vixen Lounge

My Halloween Workers
Skeleton Monkey, Frankengerbil and Flyin' Purple People Eater

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie List.
We have made it to the end of our Halloween Movie List. Hope you have had fun reminiscing about these movies or maybe found some new ones to watch. Today is the last day to comment on the movie posts for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. Here is how to do it...

1. You must leave a comment on each day's movie post with your opinion of that movie.
2. Then, on the Giveaway Post, log in to the Rafflecopter and find the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie Event entry.
3. You will need to enter the magic phrase "I survived the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween" into the extra info box along with the name you used to post your comments.
Make sure you commented on each movie post or the entry will not count! I will check 8)

While watching the movies on our list I couldn't help but think about...

What have we learned from watching horror films?
1. Only the skinny survive! If you can't fit through small openings you will never escape.
2. If you leave your window/doors unlocked or open then you should not be surprised when the killer appears in your house.
3. If you hear something outside at night don't go out and offer yourself up to it.
4. Never trust the local sheriff, gas attendants, doctor, etc. They are part of it!
5. Hit him again.
6. Don't sit with your back to the killer with your eyes shut thinking "It all OK now". It's not. You only hit him once and now he's standing up.
7. After the third time #6 happens...learn from it!

Thanks so much for joining us for all the Halloween fun!!! We appreciate you all and we'll be back again next October to do it all over. But next up will be our 2nd annual Christmas A Go-Go Giveaway December 1-16th. We already have lots of shops lined up and some holiday fun ready to go. Don't miss it! Plus, check in often during November as Laughing Vixen Lounge will be having lots of little giveaways with the first starting on the 5th. And for those who like their Halloween year 'round we have more movie reviews each Friday with our Fear Fridays. And there will also be a big Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale at Laughing Vixen Lounge. Stay tuned to see when the deals start!

And now for our final feature...

Night 31 - Young Frankenstein

Tagline - The scariest comedy of all time!

Directed by Mel Brooks (The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Dracula: Dead and Loving It) and released on December 15, 1974 by Twentieth Century Fox (Rated PG). Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) inherits his grandfathers castle and all it's possessions. Despite his resistance to his grandfather's ideas he quickly changes his mind when he stumbles upon some hidden journals in his grandfather's secret library. With the help of his assistants Igor (Marty Feldman) and Inga (Terri Garr) Dr. Frankenstein will attempt to bring his grandfather's dream to life.

This is the best of the best. The comedy is so silly it's stupid but at the same time it's really rather brilliant. Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder are at their finest here and it's a treat to watch them. The sets and atmosphere are beautiful and Peter Boyle is such fun as the monster. This is a yearly Halloween staple at my house and I can't wait to watch it tonight!

Madeline Kahn is great as Elizabeth/The Bride of Frankenstein. The best quote of hers...
"Oh. Where you going?... Oh, you men are all alike. Seven or eight quick ones and then you're out with the boys to boast and brag. You better keep your mouth shut. Oh... I think I love him."

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. The film was shot with many of the same props and lab equipment as the original Frankenstein (1931).
2. The howling wolf sound on the ride to the castle was made by director Mel Brooks.
3. The idea of Frederick's dart hitting a cat was ad-libbed on set. When Gene Wilder threw his dart off camera, director Mel Brooks quickly screamed like a cat to create the illusion.
4. The scene in which the creature contemplates throwing the little girl into the lake ("No more flowers. What shall we throw in now?"), is a homage to a scene in Frankenstein (1931). That scene was cut and not restored to the original until its video release 50 years later.
5. Gene Wilder conceived the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, while Mel Brooks was resistant to it, feeling it detracted from the fidelity to Universal horror films in the rest of the film. It was only when he saw it with a howling audience that Brooks was confident about the sequence.
6. Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman appear together in this film by virtue of the fact that their mutual agent had a deal with the movie studio.
7. The shifting hump on Igor's back was an ad-libbed gag of Marty Feldman's. He had surreptitiously been shifting the hump back and forth for several days when cast members finally noticed. It was then added to the script.
8. Rock band Aerosmith took a break from a long night of recording to see "Young Frankenstein" in 1974. Steven Tyler wrote the band's hit "Walk This Way" the morning after seeing the movie, inspired by Marty Feldman's first scene, the "walk this way... this way" scene.
9. When Mel Brooks was preparing "Young Frankenstein," he found that Ken Strickfaden, who had made the elaborate electrical machinery for the lab sequences in the Universal Frankenstein films, was still alive in the Los Angeles area. He visited Strickfaden and found that Strickfaden had saved all the equipment and had it stored in his garage. Brooks made a deal to rent the equipment for his film and gave Strickfaden the screen credit he'd deserved, but hadn't gotten, for the original films.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Night 30 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 30 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Magic Potion Compact - Tongue Of Dog $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Make sure to stop by and enter our other 2 giveaways going on now. The Wicked After Dark Blog Hop Giveaway and The Hoppin' Halloween Giveaway Hop (sponsored by our good friend Deb at Strange Daze Indeed). Enter for your chance to win a Compact Mirror and Silver Pendant of your choice from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie List.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and fun spooky movies. Each night there will be a movie review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day you will find the magic phrase you will use to unlock the entry worth 25 entries in the giveaway. You must comment on each post.

Night 30 - An American Werewolf In London

Tagline - Beware the Moon
             A masterpiece of terror
             The Monster Movie
             From the director of Animal House -- a
             different kind of animal

Written and directed by John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers and Thriller) and released on August 21, 1981 by Universal Pictures (rated R). David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are on a backpacking trip around Europe. While hiking through rural England they stop at a little pub called "The Slaughtered Lamb". After upsetting the locals they are sent out into the cold wet night with one caution..."Beware the moon and stick to the roads." Oooops! Yah, our boys aren't too bright and are strolling across the moors in no time flat. They soon find out what the locals were warning them about. Werewolves!!!

This is darn close to my favorite horror film ever. The blend of humor and horror is spot on here. The effects were cutting edge and won an Oscar. I still prefer them to many overdone CGI effects. And the use of moon related songs is fun and effective. I could never hear "Bad Moon Rising" by Credence and not think of this movie. This is one of my yearly "must see" on Halloween.

Creepiest scene is the man being stalked in the subway terminal. Even though you hardly see the beast it's filmed so well that it gives an uneasy feeling

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. John Landis originally wanted three other songs to add to the soundtrack: Cat Stevens wouldn't allow "Moonshadow" to be used because he had stopped allowing his secular music to be licensed for films following his conversion to Islam; Bob Dylan wouldn't allow his version of "Blue Moon" to be used in an R-rated film, as he had just begun his brief conversion to Christianity; and Elvis Presley's version of "Blue Moon" proved unavailable due to the ongoing lawsuits involving his estate.
2. The legal disclaimer in the closing credits reads, "Any resemblance to any persons living, dead, or undead is coincidental". This was also placed at the end of another John Landis project: Thriller (1983) (TV), which was reportedly inspired by this film.
3. David Naughton was reportedly cast because John Landis had seen him in a television commercial for Dr. Pepper. I remember this commercial! He also had a top 40 hit song!! He was on a TV show in '79 called "Makin' It" and he sang the theme song. 8)
4. In 1997, the movie was re-recorded as a Radio drama by Audio Movies Limited for BBC Radio 1 in England. It was broadcast during Halloween that year, in short snippets throughout the day. Brian Glover, John Woodvine and Jenny Agutter reprised their roles from the movie.
5. Studio executives hoped John Landis would cast Dan Aykroyd in the role of David and John Belushi as Jack. John Landis refused.
6. John Landis came up with the film following an incident while shooting Kelly's Heroes (1970) in the countryside of Yugoslavia. While driving along a country road with a colleague, Landis encountered a gypsy funeral. The body was being buried in a massively deep grave, feet first, while wrapped in garlic, so as he would not rise from the dead.
7. Director Cameo: [John Landis] appears briefly near the end of the film. He is the bearded man who gets hit by a car and thrown through the plate glass window in Piccadilly Circus.
8. When trying to call home, the telephone number that David Kessler gives the operator (516-472-3402) contains a Long Island, New York area code. It is also an unusual case where an actual phone number is used.
9. At the very end of the film, an advertisement for Universal Studios is shown along with a suggestion to "Ask for Babs". This is a reference to a "Where are they Now" item featured towards the end of Animal House (1978), another film by John Landis.
10. This is the first film to earn the Academy Award for Best Makeup. That category was created in 1981.
11. The final look of the werewolf beast was based on make-up creator Rick Baker's dog Bosko.
12. The Werewolf Howl that was used for the film, was a combination of a actual wolf and an elephant, it was also said it was played backwards by the producer 'George Folsey Jr'. in the "Beware The Moon" documentary. Director John Landis also stated on the "Beware The Moon" Documentary that the Howl was a combination of 7 or 8 different animals.
13. Frank Oz, who's know for voicing Fozzy Bear and Yoda, plays Mr. Collins of the American embassy, who attempts to console David. His voice is also heard later, during the Muppet Show.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Night 29 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 29 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

The Astounding She Monster Compact $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Tagline - Body by Plymouth. Soul by Satan.
              She'll possess you. Then destroy you. She's
              death on wheels. She's...
              Once she lures you behind her
              wheel...You're all hers.
              Hell hath no Fury...like a 1958 Plymouth.
              How do you kill something that can't
              possibly be alive?

John Carpenter (In the Mouth of Madness, Vampires and Ghosts of Mars) directed this film version of a Stephen King novel. Released on December 9, 1983 by Columbia Pictures (rated R). Arnie (Keith Gordon) is a loser until he meets Christine. Despite his best friend Dennis' (John Stockwell) attempts to stop him, Arnie buys the broken down Plymouth Fury and falls in love. Unfortunately, Christine is a jealous lover and Arnie's world quickly spins out of control.

This is one of my favorite movies. It's not too scary and the blood factor is very low. It's just a great little story. I know it varies greatly from the novel, but if you haven't read it then you're none the wiser. The nostalgia level is very high and probably one of the main reasons it appeals to me. Being a big fan of the 50's I love the Fury and all the great music she plays. Plus it's also a great look back at the late 70's. The cars they drive and the music they use (mostly 70's remakes of 50's songs) are all great. And John Stockwell was just so cute! Some of you might remember him from a few movies around this time (North and South miniseries, My Science Project and Top Gun). Now he directs movies and every now and then pops up in them. The movie is a bygone era on a few levels and I love it.

Arnie's transformation from nerd to obsession is very effective and interesting to watch. My favorite part is when Arnie says to Christine "Show me" and she proceeds to fix herself. Too cool.

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. Scott Baio was considered to play Arnie Cunningham and Brooke Shields was considered for Leigh Cabot. But the film makers involved all felt the movie would be better served by casting "unknowns". (Thank goodness!!!)
2. Although over 5300 Furys were built in 1958 they have since become very rare and are now collector's items. About 13 of the 25 Furys used were smashed in the making of the movie upsetting many Plymouth lovers!
3. Arnie's nemesis, Detective Rudolph Junkins, also drives a Plymouth Fury. The car Detective Rudolph Junkins is driving when he meets Arnie in the high-school parking lot is a 1977 or 1978 Plymouth Fury - a popular police car of the late 1970s.
4. Stephen King's popularity was such at the time that the film went into production before the book was even published.
5. To simulate the car regenerating itself, hydraulic pumps were installed on the inside of some of the film's numerous Plymouth Fury "stunt doubles", a mock-up in plastic that looked more like metal on camera than actual metal as it bent and deformed. These pumps were attached to cables, which were in turn attached to the cars' bodywork and when they compressed, they would "suck" the paneling inwards. Footage of the inward crumpling body was then reversed, giving the appearance of the car spontaneously retaking form.
6. Kevin Bacon was offered the lead role but ended up choosing Footloose (1984) instead.
7. According to Bill Phillips on the DVD Documentary, the movie technically didn't have enough violence to justify an "R" rating. But they were afraid that if the movie went out with a PG rating (PG-13 didn't exist yet), then nobody would go to see the movie. So he purposely inserted the word "f#*k" and all its derivatives in order to get the "R" rating. He then commented that they were criticized at the time for their use of the word in the film.
8. As a joke, 'Alexandra Paul (I)''s twin sister, Caroline Paul, stood in for her during some scenes, most notably the ride on the bulldozer.
9. Stephen King suffered a near fatal car collision in 1999. In an example of life imitating art, King bought the van that struck him and personally beat it with a baseball bat before sending it to the junkyard to be destroyed.
10. After reading over the book, actor Keith Gordon (Arnie) and the costume designer came up with a visual way to show Arnie being possessed by Christine. As the movie progresses, Arnie begins to wear clothes that reflect the era of Christine's make. At various points, especially when Arnie is yelling at Leigh on the phone, Arnie is seen wearing button up shirts open with black t-shirts, black pants, and boots like a 1950's "greaser". When he's talking to Junkins (both times), he's wearing a leather vest over a button up shirt (a nod to western TV shows which were popular in the 50's), and he even starts to wear a red suede jacket similar to James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
11. In the original novel, the car had four doors but was changed to a two-door model when it was realized that there never was a four-door 1958 Plymouth Fury.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Night 28 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 28 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Halloween At Midnight Charm Bracelet $45

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Tagline - The Night he came home
He's come back
The trick was to stay alive

Written and Directed by John Carpenter (The Fog, Starman and Big Trouble in Little China) and released on October 25, 1978 by Compass International Pictures (rated R). In 1963 little Mikey chops up his sister on Halloween for no apparent reason. Now it's 15 years later and Michael has come home to Haddenfeild, IL for another round. Escaping from the institution he had been living in, Michael Myers (Nick Castle) returns to his home town to wreak havoc on a group on teenagers. Our leading teen, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), is great at ignoring all the obvious signs that something is wrong and just going about her day. The little boy she is babysitting keep telling her he sees the boogieman outside but he's told to shut up. As all of Laurie's friends start to die around her she starts to realize that indeed the boogieman does exist. And he doesn't die very easily!

This film just works. Slightly dated which adds to the creepiness, a very scary villain and a bunch of dumb teenagers. I mean really, if they weren't dumb we wouldn't have much of a movie would we?

The music is great and completely creepy. The atmosphere is perfect and the suspense is high (unless you've seen it too many times and know where everything happens). I love the way Michael just appears out of the dark. Sometimes you don't even realize he's there right away. It really is one of the only characters that truly scares me. While I wonder why I would continue to watch something that bothers me on a certain level, I always find myself coming back to it year after year. I guess we need that healthy dose of fear and preferably on the screen where it can't actually hurt us!

The original and it's sequel are both great. You can skip part 3 as it has nothing to do with any of the characters from the original. Part 4 was the first one I ever saw and I still like that one. Part 5 and 6 get pretty darn bad but part 6 was Paul Rudd's first movie so that's fun. Part 7 or H2O was to be the final chapter of the series. I love this one and it's a fun and great end to everything. But it was too much of a success that Hollywood had to make Part 8. Watch it once if you haven't seen it so you can say you saw them all then forget about it!

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. This was Jamie Lee Curtis' film debut.
2. The movie was on such a tight budget that they used the cheapest Halloween mask they could buy. It happened to be a Captain Kirk mask that they spray painted, teased up the hair and readjusted the eye holes. Somehow it makes me feel a little less scared if I just remember it's William Shatner's face there. How can that not make you giggle?
3. The movie the kid's are watching on TV is 1951's The Thing which John Carpenter would remake in 1982.
4. The character of Laurie Strode was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend.
5. There are some names that are taken from Psycho in this movie. Dr. Loomis shares the same last name as Marion's boyfriend in Psycho. There is a character here named Marion Chambers a combination of two Psycho characters. And of course, Jamie Lee Curtis is Janet Leighs' daughter.
6. Halloween was shot in 21 days in April of 1978. Made on a budget of $320,000, it became the highest-grossing independent movie ever made at that time.
7. According to screenwriter/producer Debra Hill, the character of Laurie Strode was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Night 27 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 27 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Mark Of The Vampire Necklace - Style A

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Tagline - There are some very good reasons to be
              afraid...of the dark.

              If you love being scared, it'll be the night of
              your life.

Written and directed by Tom Holland (Child's Play, The Temp and Thinner) and released on August 2, 1985 by Columbia Pictures (Rated R). Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a huge horror fan and loves to watch a little late night show called "Fright Night". So when he starts to insist that his new neighbor is a Vampire it's no wonder that no one believes him. Poor crazy Charley.

Of course Charley isn't crazy and his new neighbor Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) is a blood sucker. With the help of Peter Vincent "Vampire Killer" (Roddy McDowall), host of "Fright Night", Charley's two friends Amy (Amanda Bearse) and Evil set out to convince Charley that everything is just fine. They fail miserably and must spend the rest of the movie fighting the creatures of the dark.

Yes, the effects are little on the dated side again with this one but a lot of it is still quite good and the rest will make you giggle. If you're old enough to remember the 80's you'll find lots to cringe about while watching the outfits go by.

This plays out like a good old fashion horror film. The teenagers run around with no one believing them. The Vampire lives in the big spooky old house next door. They use all the classic Vampire lore in telling the story. It's a fun and slightly creepy ride. Oh, and Charley drives one heck of a nice old Mustang that no regular teenager could actually afford.

What makes me so fond of this movie is Peter Vincent and Fright Night. I wish there was a late night show on just like it. I would so watch that! It may not be Roddy McDowall's best acting roll or movie but it is my favorite to watch. He plays Peter Vincent so well as a unhappy and scared man living behind his alter ego. As the movie progresses he finds the strength to live up to the name "Vampire Killer".

And I have this thing about the extra long fingers that Vampires sport in the movies. It creeps me out to no end. Why? I don't know why. It just isn't right! They have got them close to perfect in this movie (the best being Nosferatu 1922). Eeeeew!

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. The character Peter Vincent is named for two well know horror actors Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.
2. Chris Sarandon is also known for voicing the character Jack Skellington in "A Nightmare Before Christmas".
3. A puppet that was created for, but not used in, another Columbia Pictures production, Ghost Busters, is visible in Fright Night.
4. The most successful horror film financially of the 1985 Summer season. Also the second highest grossing horror film of 1985. The first was A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge.
5. The fact that Amy resembles a lost love of Dandridge's was Chris Sarandon's idea. He wanted Dandridge to have added dimensions - and not just be some evil bad guy.
6. The film's genesis came in Tom Holland wanting to do a vampire story crossbred with The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Avoiding using special effects at the expense of good acting, Holland included plenty of humour, warmth and relationships. He also wanted to make it valid to a modern audience by rooting it in reality - hence the suburbia setting.
7. Although William Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse are playing teenagers, in reality Ragsdale was 24 and Bearse was 27 during filming.
8. When playing Peter Vincent, Roddy McDowall based his character on some bad actors from the films he used to watch as a child.
9. Much of the film's 9.5 million dollar budget was spent on special effects (it was the first vampire film to spend one million dollars on special effects).
10. Tom Holland's directorial debut.
11. The character of Peter Vincent claims he has been fired from hosting Fright Night because "all they want are demented mad men running around in ski masks hacking up young virgins." - an obvious reference to the Friday the 13th franchise. The bouncer (Nick Savage) at the club, who first confronts Jerry, plays one of the 3 motorcycle gang members killed by Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th Part III.
12. Charlie Sheen auditioned for the role of Charlie Brewster, but the director decided his looks weren't right for the character, so William Ragsdale was ultimately cast. "Charlie Sheen was a hero," Higgins commented in an interview with The Projection Booth. "Bill Ragsdale in playing Charlie Brewster was the guy next door."
13. Writer/director Tom Holland conceived the role of Peter Vincent with Vincent Price in mind, but Price's health was declining and he was trying to shy away from accepting horror roles by that point in his career.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Night 26 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 26 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Zombie Pin Up Compact
Style F Gothic Background $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Tagline - The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror
Can They Be Stopped?

Written and directed by Sam Raimi (Darkman, The Gift and Spiderman I,II & III) and released on April 15, 1983 by New Line Cinema (original rating X, 1994 rating NC-17). A group of friends head into the woods to spend the weekend in a "rustic" cabin. After finding a book and tape recorder in the cellar they make the mistake of listening to the recorded tape. Soon they have unleashed a woods full of demons ready to wreak havoc. The only one who seems untouched by the evil is our hero Ash (Bruce Campbell). Can he save his friends and himself from the evil that surrounds them? Hmmmm...it ain't lookin' good!

The first time I watched this movie it was on SciFi channel and it made little impression on me. I just didn't see what people were making a fuss about. Over the next few years I continued to hear people talk about their love of it and their love of Bruce Campbell. Then I heard an interview with Bruce on a local radio morning show and I decided I needed to give it another shot. Being a huge horror fan I obviously just missed something the first time. So one weekend I went out and rented all three of The Evil Dead movies and watched them in a row. I was immediately under the charm of Bruce Campbell and these movies and well, the rest is history.

If you have never seen this movie before here's what you need to know. This is a low budget movie. The writing is not great nor is the acting. The effects are greatly outdated by today's standards. This is a B horror film. But, if you like your horror with a bit of cheese then I highly suggest you give this one a try. Be warned that there is blood flying, pouring, oozing and gushing all through the movie. It was billed as "The ultimate experience in grueling horror" and it is a very brutal movie. While there is plenty to make you giggle at there is also plenty to turn your stomach. If you make it to the end and feel game there are two more in the series. Evil Dead II (not really a sequel it's more like a remake. A very unique movie!) and Army of Darkness (less gore more silliness).

Not to be missed is the great style of Sam Raimi's filming. Most noticeable in the last 10 - 15 minutes of the film. The tilted camera angles, the rushing camera shots and the framing of shots using the door frames is just beautiful film making.

And Bruce Campbell is just too cute. I became a follower of his from these movies and he has remained one of my favorite. Since he lives here in Oregon, we usually get a stop on his promotional tours. It's always great fun to get to see Bruce and his latest work. Make sure to check him out on USA channel's Burn Notice.

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie.
1. After completing principal photography in the winter of 1979-1980, most of the actors left the production. However, there was still much of the film to be completed. Most of the second half of the film features Bruce Campbell and various stand-ins (or "shemps") to replace the actors who left.
2. Director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell were friends from high school, where they made many super-8 films together. They would often collaborate with Sam's brother Ted Raimi. Campbell became the "actor" of the group, as "he was the one that girls wanted to look at." (I've seen some of these super-8 films. Great fun!)
3. The opening sequence of the evil moving over the pond, is actually Bruce Campbell pushing Sam Raimi in a dingy whilst he films the shot.
4. Was one of the first films to be labeled as a "Video Nasty" in the UK.
5. There's a ripped poster of The Hills Have Eyes (1977) visible. Ostensibly, this was in reference to a ripped poster for Jaws (1975) that appeared in that film; Sam Raimi and the others interpreted that as Wes Craven suggesting that "Hills" was much more frightening than "Jaws", thus they showed a ripped "Hills" poster because their film was to be even scarier yet.
6. A closet is opened and a T-shirt with the word "Tamakwa" is visible. Director Sam Raimi went to Camp Tamakwa as a child. The movie "Indian Summer" is a tribute to his summers at Tamakwa and is a movie well worth watching. One of my favorites! Sam plays "Stick" in it and it makes me cry laughing just thinking about the character. 8)
7. The film was given an X rating when it was finished. Not wanting the label of X on their film they went ahead and released it as unrated.
8. In 2006, The Evil Dead (1981) was turned into a Broadway musical.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Night 25 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 25 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Vintage Witch Charm Bracelet $47

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Make sure to stop by and enter our other giveaway going on now. The Wicked After Dark Blog Hop Giveaway. Enter for your chance to win a Compact Mirror and Silver Pendant of your choice from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie List.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and fun spooky movies. Each night there will be a movie review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day you will find the magic phrase you will use to unlock the entry worth 25 entries in the giveaway. You must comment on each post.

Night 25 - Rosemary's Baby

Tagline - Pray for Rosemary's Baby

Roman Polanski directed this film adaptation of Ira Levin's bestselling horror novel. Released on June 12 1968 by Paramount Studios. Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her not-so-successful actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), move into a Gothic apartment building in New York called The Bramford. Of course, they were told of The Bramford's reputation for odd going-ons but they happily ignore it. After an unfortunate "accident" happens their neighbors, Roman and Minnie Castevet (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon), soon invade their lives. After Guy starts spending far too much time with the Castevets he begins to land acting roles. When Rosemary becomes pregnant she starts to become suspicious of her surroundings and the people who inhabit it.

Everything works here. The mood is one of uneasiness and paranoia as we watch Rosemary fall deeper and deeper into the world of The Bramford. Mia Farrow does such a great job that you can't help but feel everything she's feeling right along with her. Adding to the look of the film are the colorful outfits and home decor of the era. A great treat.

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. The building used for The Bramford is the famous Dakota building in New York City. Many will remember it as the place John Lennon was living and was shot in front of.
2. Vidal Sassoon created the now famous "Pixie" cut for Mia Farrow to wear in the movie.
3. William Castle (famously know for his low budget movies such as "House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler and I Saw What You Did") owned the movie rights to the novel but Paramount would only agree to green-light the movie if he agreed not to direct it. He did however have a cameo in the film as "The man near the phone booth".
4. Mia Farrow does the vocals on the title-sequence lullaby.
5. Mia Farrow received divorce papers while filming. She was married to Frank Sinatra at the time.
6. Ruth Gordon won a well deserved Oscar for her role as the over friendly neighbor "Minnie".
7. Oscar-nominated editor Sam O'Steen would later direct the sequel, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby.
8. This was Roman Polanski's very first adaptation, and it is very faithful to the novel. Pieces of dialog, color schemes and clothes are taken verbatim.
9. Mia Farrow actually ate raw liver for a scene in the movie.
10. Rosemary's baby was born in June 1966 (6/66).
11. Tony Curtis is the voice on the phone of the actor who is struck blind by a witch's curse so that Rosemary's husband can get an acting job.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Night 24 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 24 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Red Riding Hood Compact - Style C $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie List.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and fun spooky movies. Each night there will be a movie review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day you will find the magic phrase you will use to unlock the entry worth 25 entries in the giveaway. You must comment on each post.

Night 24 - The Howling

Tagline - Imagine your worst fear a reality

Joe Dante (Piranha, Gremlins I/II and Explorers ) directs this film version of the novel by Gary Brandner. Released on April 10, 1981 by AVCO Embassy Pictures (Rated R). A TV reporter, Karen White (Dee Wallace), is traumatized by an attack from a mass murderer. She can not remember what happened that night but is haunted by nightmares of it. At the suggestion of her doctor, Karen and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) take a vacation to The Colony. A little retreat for those who need to relax and heal. Maybe here she can get her memory back. Does she really want it back? Does she really want to know the truth about The Colony? Does she really have any choice? We know better.

I really enjoy this movie. It plays out like a traditional scary movie. Spooky woods, creepy music, strange natives and big furry villains. Some of the effects still hold up (some not so much) and when Eddie changes into a big werewolf standing on two legs, well that's just good stuff! This film did get overshadowed a bit by "An American Werewolf in London" being released, with a bigger budget, around the same time.

While I love AAWIL it takes nothing away from this film. The Howling is scary and fun and a must for the Halloween season.

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie
1. Many of the character names are named after Werewolf movie directors.
2. There is a book placed near a phone during one scene: Allen Ginsberg's "Howl".
3. A photo of Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolfman for Universal Pictures) is seen on the wall in the doctor's office when Terri calls Christopher.
4. The book Bill is reading in bed is "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe.
5. One character is seen eating from a can of Wolf brand chili.
6. There is a picture of a wolf attacking a flock of sheep above Karen and Bill's bed.
7. The art director had previously worked on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and many of the set dressings were used here in "The Howling". Most noticeable is the corpse sitting in the arm chair at the bookstore.
8. This film and Howling IV: The Original Nightmare are both based on the same novel by Gary Brandner. Interestingly, "Howling IV: The Original Nightmare" actually represents the more faithful adaptation of the book than this film does.
9. Roger Corman cameos as the man waiting to use the phone box after Dee Wallace.
10. Originally Rick Baker was doing the special effects for the film, but he left the production to do An American Werewolf in London. Baker left the effects job for this film in the hands of assistant Rob Bottin. Both this film and "An American Werewolf in London" were released the same year and both received praise for their makeup work.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Wicked After Dark Blog Hop Giveaway

Welcome to the Laughing Vixen Lounge blog. As part of the Wicked After Dark Blog Hop, hosted by Close Encounters Of The Night Kind and Natasha Blackthorne, we have a new giveaway for you. One winner will win their choice of Compact Mirror/Pill Box and Silver Pendant from the shop. You choose the two designs you want from 250 styles. Prize value $27. Giveaway is open worldwide to anyone 18 and over.

After you enter our giveaway make sure to visit the other blogs, via the Linky List below, to enter some more wickedly good giveaways. Please note, this blog hop has lots of 18+ content. This event will end on November 1st. Have fun and good luck. Happy Halloween 8)

Here is just a quick peek at the 250 designs you'll get to choose from. Lots of Halloween, Retro and Pop Culture designs to tempt you.

Laughing Vixen Lounge also offers Charm Bracelets, Necklaces and Silver Pendants. Pop Culture designs with a flair for Retro and Horror. Later this fall we'll be adding more Pendants styles, Bracelets styles and new Ring and Locket styles. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or the blog to keep up on the many giveaways we'll be having this fall! Visit Laughing Vixen Lounge.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our winner is Despina. Here is what she picked...

The Fine Print... Must be 18 years or older to enter. Giveaway is open worldwide. Past winners are more than welcome to enter again. Giveaway will run from 12:01am October 24th through 12:01am November 2nd 2012 EST. Winner(s) will be picked randomly from all eligible entries. The winner(s) name and choices will be posted on this blog as soon as the winner(s) has been contacted. If selected winner(s) does not respond back within 48 hours a new winner(s) will be chosen. All decisions made final by Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Night 23 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 23 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Blood Splatter Compact - Style A $15

Tagline - A Masterpiece Of Modern Horror
              The Horror is driving him crazy

Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket) directed this film version of Stephen King's best selling novel. Released May 23, 1980 by Warner Brothers Pictures (Rated R). Recovering alcoholic, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) has accepted a job as winter caretaker of the grand Overlook Hotel in an attempt to put his life back on track. The hotel manager warns him of the long and lonely winter ahead as he and his family will be alone and snowed in for the five month off-season. Jack assures him it's just what he needs to work on his writing. What Jack doesn't know is that he and his family are not the only ones inhabiting the Overlook! Muaahhhhhhhh 8)

Being a fan of the book there are some aspects of this movie version that I don't care for. Jack seems to not like his family from the start and he almost changes into a crazy man overnight. A little more of a transition into madness would have been nice.

That being said I really do like this movie. It's creepy, creepy and then a bit more creepy! What really makes this movie creepy is the time period. I never could put my finger on it when I was a teenager as to why it left me with an unpleasant feeling. As I got older I began to realize it's the late 70's look of it. The colors and the patterns of the floors, walls and furniture. The color and the style of the clothing. And the fact that the film used makes the colors look a little off or maybe too vivid.

I liken it to when you were younger and you went to visit your grandparents. The ones that still lived in that old house with the furniture from many decades past. The one where you open the door and an instant musty smell filled your nose. That's how I think the Overlook would feel like now. While grand in it's day, now it's outdated and needs to be aired out. The dated wall paper would be pealing around the edges and the bathroom tiles would be old an worn looking. While it was high fashion when the movie was made now it just adds to the uneasiness of it.

I also love the mini series they made in 1997. It stared Steven Weber (Wings (tv) and Single White Female), a personal favorite of mine, and was very faithful to the novel. If you're a fan of the book this version should appeal to you. I thought it was great.

Take a look at the original trailer

Some trivia about the movie.
1. Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon stood in for the exterior shots of the Overlook. Being from Portland I take great pride in seeing Timberline up there on the screen. It should be noted though that all interior shots of the hotel were filmed on a sound stage in London. So if you should visit Timberline don't expect the inside to look the same and don't expect to find room 237. Afraid that no one would want to stay in the room after the film came out, the management asked that the original room number, 217, be changed to something else. 237 was picked as there was no existing room with that number.
2. The opening scene of the Volkswagen driving is shot in Glacier National Park, Montana. The road is know as the "Going-to-the-sun" road.
3. The area that the set for the Colorado Lounge, where Jack does his typing, was built was also used as the Well of the Souls in Raiders of the lost ark.
4. The interior of the Overlook was made to look like bits and pieces of real hotels. The Colorado Lounge was modeled on the lounge at the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite Valley. It resembled it so well that people entering the Ahwanee often asked "is this the Shining hotel?"
5. The US version had Jack typing the same line "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over. In the Italian version it's "He who wakes up early meets a golden day". In the German version it's "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today". The Spanish version has "Rising early will not make dawn sooner". The French went with "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".
6. Stephen King has said that the name was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma" which features the chorus "We all shine on".
7. Stanley Kubrick decided that having the hedge animals come alive (as they do in the book) was unworkable due to restrictions in special effects, so he opted for a hedge maze instead.
8. There is a great deal of confusion regarding this film and the number of retakes of certain scenes. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the scene where Wendy is backing up the stairs swinging the baseball bat was shot 127 times, which is a record for the most takes of a single scene. However, both Steadicam operator Garrett Brown and assistant editor Gordon Stainforth say this is inaccurate - the scene was shot about 35-45 times. Brown does say however that the scene where Hallorann explains to Danny what shining is was shot 148 times, which is a world record.
9. Stanley Kubrick considered both Robert De Niro and Robin Williams for the role of Jack Torrance but decided against both of them. Kubrick didn't think De Niro would suit the part after watching his performance in Taxi Driver, as he deemed De Niro not psychotic enough for the role. He didn't think Williams would suit the part after watching his performance in Mork & Mindy, as he deemed him too psychotic for the role. According to Stephen King, Kubrick also briefly considered Harrison Ford.
10. Stephen King tried to talk Stanley Kubrick out of casting Jack Nicholson in the lead suggesting, instead, either Michael Moriarty or Jon Voight. King had felt that watching either of these normal-looking men gradually descend into madness, would have immensely improved the dramatic thrust of the storyline.
11. The scrapbook that Jack finds in the novel makes a brief appearance next to his typewriter in the scene when Jack tells Wendy never to bother him while he's working.
12. During the scene where Wendy brings Jack breakfast in bed, it can be seen in the reflection of the mirror that Jack's T-shirt says "Stovington" on it. While not mentioned in the film, this is the name of the school that Jack used to teach at in the Stephen King novel.
13. Stanley Kubrick, known for his compulsiveness and numerous retakes, got the difficult shot of blood pouring from the elevators in only three takes. This would be remarkable if it weren't for the fact that the shot took nine days to set up; every time the doors opened and the blood poured out, Kubrick would say, "It doesn't look like blood." In the end, the shot took approximately a year to get right.
14. During filming, Stanley Kubrick made the cast watch Eraserhead, Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist to put them in the right frame of mind.
15. Every time Jack talks to a "ghost", there's a mirror in the scene, except in the food locker scene. This is because in the food locker scene he only talks to Grady through the door. We never see Grady in this scene.
16. At the time of release, it was the policy of the MPAA to not allow the portrayal of blood in trailers that would be approved for all audiences. Bizarrely, the trailer for The Shining consists entirely of the shot of blood pouring out of the elevator. Stanley Kubrick had convinced the board the blood flooding out of the elevator was actually rusty water.
17. Because Danny Lloyd was so young and since it was his first acting job, Stanley Kubrick was highly protective of the child. During the shooting of the movie, Lloyd was under the impression that the film he was making was a drama, not a horror movie. He only realized the truth seven years later, when, aged 13, he was shown a heavily edited version of the film. He didn't see the uncut version of the film until he was 17 - eleven years after he'd made it.
18. Outtakes of the shots of the Volkswagen traveling towards the Overlook at the start of the film were plundered by Ridley Scott (with Stanley Kubrick's permission) when he was forced to add the 'happy ending' to the original release of Blade Runner.
19. The "snowy" maze near the conclusion of the movie consisted of 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.
20. Stanley Kubrick's first choice to play Danny Torrance was Cary Guffey, the young boy from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Guffey's parents apparently turned down the offer due to the film's subject matter.
21. There were so many changes to the script during shooting that Jack Nicholson claimed he stopped reading it. He would read only the new pages that were given to him each day.
22. For the scene in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door, the props department built a door that could be easily broken. However, Jack Nicholson had worked as a volunteer fire marshal and tore it apart far too easily. The props department were then forced to build a stronger door.
23. Prior to hiring Diane Johnson as his writing partner, director/producer Stanley Kubrick rejected a screenplay written by Stephen King himself. King's script was a much more literal adaptation of the novel, a much more traditional horror film than the film Kubrick would ultimately make. He was considering hiring Johnson because he admired her novel "The Shadow Knows," but when he found out she was a Doctor of Gothic Studies, he became convinced she was the person for the job.
24. There was no air conditioning on the sets, meaning it would often become very hot. The hedge maze set was stifling; actors and crew would often strip off as much of the heavy clothing they were wearing as quickly as they could once a shot was finished.
25. The role of Lloyd the Bartender was originally to have been played by Harry Dean Stanton, who was unable to take the part due to his commitment to Alien.
26. The image of the two girls in the hotel corridor was inspired by the photograph "Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967" by Diane Arbus.
27. The idea for Danny Lloyd to move his finger when he was talking as Tony was his own; he did it spontaneously during his very first audition.
28. For the scenes when we can hear Jack typing but we cannot see what he is typing, Kubrick recorded the sound of a typist actually typing the words "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Some people argue that each key on a typewriter sounds slightly different, and Kubrick wanted to ensure authenticity, so he insisted that the actual words be typed.
29. There is a character named Richard Haloran in the film Dementia 13, about an axe murderer. It was produced by Roger Corman, who directed several of Jack Nicholson's early films.
30. Stephen King got the idea for The Shining while his family were staying at the Stanley Hotel. They were the last guests before it shut down for the Winter. He saw a group of nuns leaving the hotel, and it got him thinking that the place had suddenly become godless. The King family stayed in Room 217, the haunted room in the novel but Room 237 in the film; a fire hose also resembled a snake (which doesn't appear in the film but does in the TV mini-series), and King had already been playing around with a story idea about a boy with ESP, so he combined the two plotlines.
31. The first of Stephen King's books to be banned from school libraries because of the theme of wicked parents.