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strangenstein's Replies
The opening scene is brilliant and packs a wallop. When the theme music kicks in it’s really amazing….
….then the rest of the movie begins.
If Loomis would’ve given Laurie shooting lessons, today’s crowd would’ve accused him of mansplaining.
The neighbors simply thought it was a Halloween prank.
Wow, 2000+ years and Jesus is still intimidating people.
I think this particular rumor was able to take hold because it was pre-internet. There was really nowhere to go to disprove it, and I’m sure the filmmakers didn’t mind the extra VHS rentals/sales caused by it.
Regarding The Ohio Players and the rumored murder that was caught on the recording of their song Love Rollercoaster, I heard an interesting interview a few years back with one of the band members. He said they didn’t say it was true or not because it was helping sales. It worked and I don’t blame them. Whenever that song comes on the radio now, I ALWAYS listen for the scream!
Couldn’t disagree more with the OP. KK II is a solid sequel that helps the characters grow. As far as losing Ali, teenagers very seldom stick together. Daniel found a new love in Okinawa, and it was a great relationship.
I saw it in the theater but don’t recall who I saw it with. It was OK and the 3D was a real novelty, so that helped cover the glaring weaknesses. Overall I think people were disappointed, at least I know I was.
I saw it with two friends. I was 13 and they were a year or so younger. My memory tells me we liked it and it was suspenseful. JAWS 2 is no JAWS, but it is better than it has any right to be.
My take has always been to keep from spreading panic.
Love to see Spectre of the Gun mentioned! It’s a solid episode, and also pretty eerie at times.
Your list is pretty spot on except for The Man Trap.
“I feel sorry for Glenn Strange. I honestly feel that he looked great behind Jack Pierce's legendary makeup.”
Glenn Strange did look great as the monster. By this point in the series the monster was just a prop, although he was given more to do in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. In that one you really get a sense of his strength and danger.
The opening is absolutely amazing, but one thing that makes it even scarier is the music when the revived wolf man slowly reaches up and grabs Freddy Jolly. It has a frightening, yet doom-laden feel.
Back in the early 2000s I was making little homemade monster movies with my kids, and we “recreated” this scene in one of our movies. It was fun to build the simple set in our garage.
I also just found the same DVD at Dollar Tree! Wacko is what caught my eye. I was recently reading an interview with Director Greydon Clark and he spoke highly of the movie. I’ve never seen it so I’m interested to see what it’s all about. I’m not sure how this slipped by me, since the 80s was my decade.
Couldn’t disagree more with the OP. The original walked a very fine line between dreams and reality, and that made it all the more interesting and scary. I saw the original in the theater back in ‘84 and it reeked of creeping dread.
Every sequel, with the exception of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, telegraphed the dream sequences, seriously damaging the atmosphere and dread. The true fatal flaw was turning Freddy into a wiseacre. Blech.
WCNN mostly returned the series to that spooky dreamlike area, and, for the first time in several films, Freddy was scary again. The ending takes on more conventional horror tropes, but it doesn’t ruin what came earlier in the movie.
The first one was the best, by far, and it was also the only one that successfully walked that twilight area between dreams and reality. I remember seeing the original in the theater in ‘84 and not only was it new and fresh, but it was also scary as hell. Subsequent sequels telegraphed every dream sequence, and, most fatally, turned Freddy into a wiseacre. The scares, suspense and atmosphere sold out to box office and merchandising.
The original is great, but Wes Craven’s New Nightmare was able to return the series to the same kind of mind-bending dream logic that propelled the first one.
One way to set it in modern times but keep it old school would be to have Kolchak be a real anachronism. Maybe he’s a modern Luddite, or just prefers to be like his grandfather.
My fear for a series set in the 70s would be the expense, which may limit the series — or cause it to end too soon.
The Zombie is a superior episode. It’s too bad the series couldn’t keep up this level of quality. I think four of the first five episodes are really well done.
Good and honest review of the series. I’ve said over the years that I’d give up the series for 5 or 6 more movies. Make one every 2 or 3 years. I think Mr. McGavin would’ve signed on for that, especially when he began to realize how big the fan base was for the show.
The Dairy Fairy definitely visited this movie set.