The 14 Nights of Valentine's Day Movie Marathon Giveaway

*****Contest Closed*****
Gather ‘round all you Lounge Vixens and enjoy this month’s treat... “The 14 Nights of Valentine's Day Movie Marathon Giveaway”

We are pairing up some romance with this giveaway. A different romance theme movie will be reviewed for you each night. You’ll find the links to all the movies so far listed below and on the sidebar. You’ll get some extra entries for taking the time to show the posts a little love.
Night 1 "Moulin Rouge"
Night 2 "The Lake House"
Night 3 "An Affair To Remember"
Night 4 "Grease"
Night 5 "50 First Dates"
Night 6 "Pillow Talk"
Night 7 "The Notebook"
Night 8 "True Romance"
Night 9 "Wuthering Heights"
Night 10 "Indian Summer"
Night 11 "P.S. I Love You"
Night 12 "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
Night 13 "A Life Less Ordinary"
Night 14 "Say Anything"

This time around we have two fabulous goodie bags up for grabs. The Lounge called on a few of our “partners in crime” to donate some of their incredible goods to the cause. So, thanks to their generosity, two lucky winners will walk away with some stylish loot.
 
Goodie Bag #1...
 

Laughing Vixen Lounge – Your choice of any glass pendant necklace from the shop.

The Family Jewels – In bloom ring “pink rose” edition.

 

Dirty Dishes – Your choice of any coffee mug from the shop including custom designs.

 

Groupie Glam – Your choice of any one item from the shop.

 

Boutique Julie – Set of two Greeting Cards.

 

Hell in a Handbag – A pair of Dead Eye Bows.

 

Glama Ray – Your choice of a 2oz Bubble Bath, a 2oz Massage Oil, a Roll~On Girl Perfume or a Home Fragrance Oil in any scent from The Valentine Collection.

 

Snips ‘n Snails – James Dean postage stamp necklace. Plus a "Toto By The Ear" cross stitch pattern.

 

Soft and Shiny – A pair of Moonstone and Garnet earrings.

 

 

 

Goodie Bag # 2...

 

Laughing Vixen Lounge – Your choice of any glass pendant necklace from the shop.

 

The Family Jewels – In bloom ring “pink rose” edition.

 

Carioca Witch – Your choice of any one item from the shop.

 

Groupie Glam – Your choice of any one item from the shop.

 

Boutique Julie – A Valentine Gift Box.

 

Hell in a Handbag – A pair of Creepy Fly Hairpins.

 

Glama Ray – Your choice of a 2oz Bubble Bath, a 2oz Massage Oil, a Roll~On Girl Perfume or a Home Fragrance Oil in any scent from The Valentine Collection.

 

Snips ‘n Snails – Your choice of any style Cameo Earrings from the shop. Plus a "Toto By The Ear" cross stitch pattern.

 

Soft and Shiny – A pair of Freshwater Pearl and Red Crystal Bicone Antique Bronze Earrings.

 

 

So sit back, watch a few movies, do a little window shopping and have fun!

 

Ways to enter the giveaway

 

**Make sure to post each entry as a separate comment. If you do not then you will not get all of your entries. Example...if something is worth 2 entries you must leave 2 separate comments. If you follow 3 people on Twitter each one needs to be a separate comment. If you put multiple entries in 1 comment you will only get the 1 entry!**

 

If you already follow a shop go ahead and take the entry.

 

Visit the shops – 3 entries

Check out the shops and comment on your favorite item.
 
Visit Laughing Vixen Lounge
Visit The Family Jewels
Visit Dirty Dishes
Visit Glama Ray
Visit Groupie Glam
Visit Boutique Julie
Visit Hell In A Handbag
Visit Snips and Snails
Visit Carioca Witch
Visit Soft n’ Shiny
 
Twitter – 1 entry
Follow the shops on Twitter.
 
Follow Laughing Vixen Lounge
Follow The Family Jewels
Follow Dirty Dishes
Follow Glama Ray
Follow Groupie Glam
Follow Boutique Julie
Follow Hell In A Handbag
Follow Snips and Snails
Follow Soft n’ Shiny
 
Blogs – 2 Entries
Follow the shops on their blogs.
 
Follow Laughing Vixen Lounge
Follow The Family Jewels
Follow Glama Ray
Follow Hell In A Handbag
Follow Snips and Snails
Follow Carioca Witch
Follow Soft n’ Shiny
 
Facebook – 2 Entries
Follow the shops on Facebook

Follow Laughing Vixen Lounge
Follow Glama Ray
Follow Soft 'n Shiny

MySpace – 2 Entries
Follow the shops on Myspace

Follow Glama Ray
Follow Groupie Glam
Follow Hell In A Handbag
 
Add a Laughing Vixen Lounge Button to your site – 4 Entries
Grab one of The Lounge’s buttons from the sidebar and add it to your site/blog. Just copy the code and paste in a widget (blogspot). If you need any help just ask. Make sure to add the link to your site in the comment.

Blog about this giveaway – 2 Entries
Post a write up on this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment that includes the link to your post.

Tweet about this giveaway –1 Entry
Tweet this message – 14 Nights of Valentine's Day Movie Marathon Giveaway. Fabulous prizes from 10 shops! Enter at http://bit.ly/cRxCrU
You may tweet 3 times per day. 1 tweet an hour max! Leave a separate comment for each tweet with the link to that tweet.

Comment on any movie – 1 Entry
One comment per movie. Links to all past movies are listed on the sidebar.

Guess the next day’s movie – 1 Entry
Clues to the title of the next night’s movie will be tweeted each day. Post your guess as a comment on that night’s movie post. One guess per day.
 
If you have a shop and would like to join in on a future giveaway contact me through my Etsy shop or send me a tweet on Twitter.
 
Make sure there is a way to contact you from your post.

Winners of previous giveaways are more than welcome to enter again.

Giveaway is open worldwide.

The Fine Print...Giveaway run from 12:00 Midnight February 1st '10 to 11:59 pm February 14th '10 (PST). Winner(s) will be picked randomly from all 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 2 days a new winner(s) will be chosen. All decisions made final by Laughing Vixen Lounge.

It's Godzilla!

I had a custom order for a Japanese Monster Movie charm bracelet and I just finished it. It was most fun putting together and I wanted to share the pictures with everyone. I'll be adding a similar design to the shop very soon so you can grab one for yourself.

And The Winner Is...

Thanks to everyone for all the RTing. This was the biggest and best response I've had yet to a Twitter giveaway. Of course only one lucky kat can win and this time that winner is.....

@ThatTweetThing She picked "Cherries in Pink".
Lets all give her a big "congrats"!!!

Make sure to stay tuned as there will be another pendant giveaway starting this Friday sponsored by @MissingLynxx

Black Cat Giveaway

I just adore a black cat and this little guy is too cute to pass up. Try your luck at winning him (though you'll have to battle me for him) or purchase one straight from "PhenomeGnome.com". This giveaway is brought to us by the lovely dolls over at "The Soccer Moms' Guide to Wicca".
Ends 1/11 at 9:00 EST.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale.

November 27 - 30.

It's that time of year when all you kool kats are looking for a killer deal. Well, The Lounge is here to help. The shop will be running a couple of deals.

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Pick from...

15% off your purchase(before shipping)

Free shipping

Free glass pendant with any bracelet (any $10.50 glass pendant)

You can pick any one of these deals with your order. See full details on the shop's front page here

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And of course there is always the Buy 2 get 1 FREE deal on all glass and charmed pendants.
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So stop on by and take a look around. Find something for a gift or just treat yourself. Custom orders are always welcomed so let me know if there is something special I can make for you.

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Now go forth and eat too much, shop 'til you drop and have a rockin' good holiday!

And The Winner Is...

Thanks to everyone who played along with our latest Titter contest. The Lounge has the best Followers, Minions and all around Kool Kats! Kisses out to all of you.
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And the winner of the Friday The 13th RT Contest is...

Andrea (@Lunachique)
She chose the "Jack in Green" pendant.

And the winners are......

It's time to announce the winners of the "Twitter 613RT" and "The 31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest" giveaways.

The Twitter giveaway winner is...
@BurqueSara

She chose "The Lion and the Lamb".

And let me thank everyone for joining in on all the Halloween fun with the Film Fest. I had so many wonderful people playing along that it made it all the more fun to do. It was great reading all you posts and seeing how many could guess the next movie. Hope it added to your Halloween. There was such a good turnout, and lots that followed along for most of the month, that I decided to pick two winners.

The winners of "The 31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest" are...

DG (@DeeGee13)

She chose "Click Your Heels Three Times".

Bridgett

She chose "Eiffel Tower in Brown".

Thanks again to everyone and there will be a new giveaway later this month. I just have to make up my mind what I want to do for it. Aaaaah, decisions! 8)

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

Well, my lovely ghouls, we have made it to the end of the Film Fest. Hope you had fun reminiscing about some favorites and maybe found a few new ones. While watching these movies 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!

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This is the last night to get your comments posted for the pendant giveaway. You can go back and leave a comment on any of the past movies. Since I've had so many wonderful people playing along I've decided to pick 2 winners! Winners will be posted later on Sunday. Good luck and have fun.

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Night 31...."Young Frankenstein"

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Directed by Mel Brooks (The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Dracula: Dead and Loving It) and released on December 15, 1974 by Twentieth Century Fox. Dr. Frederick Frankenstein 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.

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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."

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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.

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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/1wOVZb -- 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.

Night 30 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 30..."An American Werewolf in London"

It just doesn't get much better than this!
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Written and directed by John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers and Thriller) and released on August 21, 1981 by Universal Pictures. 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 pissing off the locals they are sent out into the cold wet night with one caution..."Beware the moon and stick to the roads." 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!!!
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This is darn close if not 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. This is one of my yearly "must see" on Halloween.
I mean, can you really hear "Bad Moon Rising" by Credence and not think of this movie. Maybe I saw it young enough that it branded my brain.
Creepiest scene is the man being stalked in the subway terminal. I still find it scary.
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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 (and held several allusions to) 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 a 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. Miss Piggy/Yoda-Creator/Voice Talent Frank Oz plays Mr. Collins of the American embassy, who attempts in vain to console David. His voice is also heard later, during the Muppet Show.
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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/2v5w28 -- 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.

Night 29 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 29..."Classic Monster Movies"

I love old black and white monster movies. Any and all of them. Atomic bugs, Woman that change into insects, The Universal Monsters, Critters from Outer space, Ghost, Zombies, Killer Bugs and just about anything that happens to grow really big! I'm a huge Mystery Science Theater 3000 lover so all the better if they're MST'd. Anyway and every way they are wonderful and make me laugh. If you visit my shop you will see many of them lurking around.

The trailers were great too. "It leaps! It Crawls! It takes over the world! Run!" I love this style and it show in the posters too. I couldn't think of anything better than to let their great artwork speak for them. This is just a sampling of the heaps of them out there.

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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/10eYvS -- 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.

Night 28 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 28...."Dead and Breakfast"

You will either love it or hate it!
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Directed by Matthew Leutwyler (This Space Between Us, Road Kill and Unearthed) and released on August 19, 2005 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. A group of young people, on their way to a wedding, stop for the night at a bed and breakfast in the little town of Lovelock, Texas. Upon waking they find some dead bodies and an evil spirit possessing the townsfolk, turning them into Zombies. Can they stop the madness before it takes over forever? And wow, can those Zombies dance. That's right, dance!
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The tagline for this movie was "It's like a bad horror film, only worse". That pretty much sums it up. This is a grade A hunk of cheesiness. Lots of squirting blood, jokes and Zombies. And yes, there is a roaming band (kinda like "Something About Mary") so you have singing Zombies that even do a little dance. It's silly, funny and bad in all the best ways.
And as an extra treat it has two of my favorites in it, Jeffery Dean Morgan (The Sheriff) and Jeremy Sisto (Ahhh, let's just say The Head). Also stars David and Ever Carradine.
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Some trivia about the movie...
1. When the group first gets to the bed and breakfast, they hear the song "The Freshmen" on the radio and sing to it. "The Freshmen" was written and performed by Brian Vander Ark, who appears as a zombie and wrote the original score to the film.
2. When the Sheriff is pulling the chainsaw out of the closet, an Evil Dead poster can be seen.
3. When Melody (Gina Philips) kills one of the zombies, the Sheriff (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) says, "Nice move, Buffy." Bianca Lawson, who plays Kate in the film, played Kendra on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series.
4. 34 gallons of "blood" were used over the course of the shoot. 4.5 gallons of "blood" were used just to cut off Erik Palladino's head.
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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/VlAB4 -- 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.

Night 27 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 27...."The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

Ick...Yuck...Eeew...Blaaaah.
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Directed by Tobe Hooper (Salem's Lot, Venom and Invaders from Mars) and released on October 1, 1974 by Bryanston Distributing. A group of teens are traveling the back roads of Texas wanting to visit the old home two of them grew up in. Running low on gas they try the local gas station but they are out. When they reach the house they decide to visit the neighbors to see if they have any gas they can borrow. Bad idea! The neighbors happen to be sadistic cannibals that are looking for some fresh meat.
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I saw this movie for the first time about 9 years ago. It was horrible and disturbing! Pretty sure I'd be OK never seeing it again. But I couldn't leave it off the list because it is a truly horrifying picture. The gritty look of the film makes it seem more like a documentary and therefore feels real. It's the dinner scenes towards the end that really leaves you with a disgusting and dirty feeling. It's just wrong on so many levels!!! But it does archive what many horror films don't. It scares you.
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Some trivia about the movie....
1. The movie wasn't released in Australia until the early 1980s.
2. When it was first released, the film was so horrifying that people actually walked out on sneak previews for it.
3. The film was rejected by the British film censors in 1975, but it did get a limited cinema release in the London area thanks to the GLC (Greater London Council). It was banned again in 1977, when the censors' attempts to cut it were unsuccessful, (for the purposes of a wider release), then it was banned again in 1984, due to the growing controversy involving 'video nasties'. In 1999, after the censors finally changed their policy, they took the plunge, and passed it uncut, for the cinema and video, after 25 years, since they first banned it.
4. The film was originally entitled "Headcheese", but was filmed as "Leatherface", then changed again at the last minute to "Texas Chain Saw Massacre".
5. Due to the low budget, Gunnar Hansen had only one shirt to wear as Leatherface. The shirt had been dyed, so it could not be washed; Hansen had to wear it for four straight weeks of filming in the Texas summer. By the end of the shoot no one wanted to eat lunch with Hansen because his clothing smelled so bad.
6. Tobe Hooper intended to make the movie for a "PG" rating, by keeping violence moderate and language mild, but despite cutting and repeated submissions, the Ratings Board insisted on the "R" rating for the effectiveness of what is onscreen and what is implied offscreen. Hooper had a similar ratings problem with the sequel.
7. According to John Larroquette, his payment for doing the opening narration was a marijuana joint.
8. Some urban legends say that the the "real" Texas Chainsaw Massacre took place near Poth, (a small town about 50 miles south of San Antonio). This is false. The film is fictional and based loosely on the life of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein (as is the classic Psycho (1960).
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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/41kQm -- 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.

Night 26 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 26...."Shaun of the Dead"

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Directed by Edgar Wright (Spaced and Hot Fuzz) and released on September 24, 2004 by Focus Features. Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) are happy to spend their days at dead end jobs and their nights at The Winchester Pub. That is until Zombies threaten their safe and comfortable lives. Now they must try to save their friends and family from the undead masses.

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This is one of the best movies to come along in a long time. It is a perfect blend of witty and smart comedy and outright horror. These guys are such huge Romero fans that the jokes are loving and the horror is spot on. There are plenty of inside jokes for those who follow the Living Dead/Horror genre movies but lots of laughs for the casual viewer too. I could go on and on but you know what I'm talking about. And if you don't know...go watch it now!

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Some trivia about the movie...

1. Frequent references are made to Big Al's claim that dogs can't look up. This is a reference to the commentary to the second series of "Spaced" (1999) in which Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Edgar Wright talk about Nick Frost (Ed)'s claim that the difficulty in shooting a scene with a dog was due to the fact that dogs can't look up.

2. The zombie that Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) find in their garden is Mary, the checkout girl from the film's credit montage. A short story detailing her transformation into one of the undead was featured in issue 1384 of the classic British sci-fi comic 2000AD. The issue went on sale 7 April 2004. The strip was called "There's Something About Mary" and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (the film's co-writers) with art by Frazer Irving.

3. Because of the timing and the indisputable similarity of the names, the distributors were forced to hold the film back until two weeks after Dawn of the Dead (2004) was released in the UK.

4. While Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Liz flick through TV channels, a voice can be heard saying that claims that the epidemic was due to rage infected monkeys have now been dismissed as b... Liz turns off before the voice can finish the sentence. The voice is referencing 28 Days Later... (2002), another British zombie movie, in which the word zombie is never used, and, perhaps, Braindead (1992) ("Dead-Alive") from New Zealand as well.

5. When Shaun and the group are running out of Liz's flat they are all carrying weapons of some kind, but only Shaun actually hits any zombies. This was because only the cricket bat that Shaun was carrying was a padded fake, all the other items were real and would have hurt the extras playing zombies if they had been hit with them.

6. John and Bernie run the Winchester. These are the real names of the landlord and landlady who used to run Simon Pegg's local pub, the Shepherds in Highgate. John used to make toasted sandwiches for regulars, hence the reference to "the Breville out back." Pegg and Nick Frost were regular attendees of the Shepherd's Thursday night quiz, hence the line "we do the quiz" when Shaun is knocking on the Winchester's door. Chris Martin of Coldplay, who plays a zombie in the film, also used to attend quiz night.

7. Shaun berates Ed for calling the creatures zombies (which they are, of course). This may be referring to the fact that many zombie movies (including Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Resident Evil (2002)) never mention the word "zombie" at all. More likely this is a reference to Danny Boyle, director of 28 Days Later... (2002), and his insistence that it isn't a zombie movie.

8. When Shaun walks to the shops before heading to work when everything is normal, Shaun passes a road sweeper. On the road-sweeper operator's radio one can hear a news bulletin detailing how a space probe called Omega 6 entered Earth's atmosphere several days early over the southwest of England and broke apart over a well-built area. This a direct link to Night of the Living Dead (1968), in which a space probe breaks up over a small town in the USA, and the resulting radiation causes the dead in the local graveyard to come to life.

9. Night of the Living Dead (1968) director George A. Romero was given a private viewing of the film near his home in Florida. During the scene in which Ed (Nick Frost) yells into the phone, "We're coming to get you, Barbara," Romero was oblivious to the fact it was a direct lift from his film Night of the Living Dead (1968) and only found out later after a phone conversation with director Edgar Wright.

10. According to writer-director Edgar Wright in the DVD commentary, when Ed attempts to cheer Shaun up at the Winchester with plans of binge drinking, he is actually summarizing the events of the next day (Z-day) entirely in drinking references.

11. George A. Romero, creator of the films that this movie pays homage to and lampoons, was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's work that he asked them to appear in Land of the Dead (2005), the fourth part of his Dead series, in cameos as zombies.

12. In the scene where Shaun discovers the Pete zombie in the bathroom, Shaun is talking and says the words "join us" - a well known quote from Evil Dead.

13. There are also multiple references to the scenes in Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness (i.e. where Ash replaces his severed hand with a chainsaw and dismembers Evil Ash respectively), where quick edits focusing on important objects (i.e. the chainsaw, the chains, etc.) are used in order to speed up and intensify the actions taking place. In the film these edits are seen when Shaun makes breakfast, whenever he uses the toilet, etc

14. Shaun tells Liz that he's going to take her to "the place that does all the fish". When he opens the phone book you can see that the restaurant is literally called ‘The Place That Does All the Fish’.

15. First part of Simon Pegg's and Edgar Wright's "The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy". The other two parts are Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2010).

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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/33Nprn -- 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.

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.

Night 24 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.

****

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 24...."Christine"

Body by Plymouth. Soul by Satan.

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John Carpenter (In the Mouth of Madness, Vampires and Ghost of Mars) directed this film version of a Stephen King novel. Released on December 9, 1983 by Columbia Pictures. 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.

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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 Fifties 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. 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.

Favorite part is when Arnie says to Christine "Show me" and she proceeds to fix herself. Too cool.

And she has my name. Different spelling but love it anyways. 8)

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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. 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.

3. Stephen King's popularity was such at the time that the film went into production before the book was even published.

4. 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.

5. Kevin Bacon was offered the lead role but ended up choosing Footloose (1984) instead.

6. 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 "fuck" 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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 like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).

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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/1BEQla -- 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.